


Past, Present and Future

by Vampire_Chick25



Category: Charmed
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-04-01 05:01:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4006798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampire_Chick25/pseuds/Vampire_Chick25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his trip to the future, Chris finds a little more than a way to save Wyatt, but maybe himself as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Charmed or any of the characters. It was too great a show to be created by little old me!  
> OK, this is my first ever Charmed story. I've been watching it a lot lately (especially season 6) and ths idea just popped into my head, and I had to write it! Hope you like!

Like any other night during the week, P3 was packed with lively, dancing patrons. Its joint owners, the Halliwell sisters Piper, Phoebe and Paige, were late, nowhere to be seen, and they had left Emma Nixon in charge for the night. She may only have been a barmaid on a typical night, but she was one of the very few people inside the club who the sisters trusted. The reason behind the trust, however, had nothing to do with her position at the club. The Halliwell sisters, as well as being club owners, were the most powerful witches on the side of good known as the Charmed Ones, and Emma was a previous innocent.

Emma was a witch who practised the Wiccan religion. Although she would never compare herself to the sisters, Emma had been gifted with a power. She was a psychic, and a powerful one according to the sisters, if only she could figure how to use her power properly. About a year ago, Emma had been targeted by a demon who was taking out all of the forces of good in this world, all those who could help the side of good in the future. Apparently, that was Emma. It was only then that Emma had learnt she was a psychic. Up until that moment, she had only been practising Wicca as a… well, hobby, sort of. The sisters had saved her just in time and since then she had managed to keep in touch, even getting a job in the club. She had also made herself useful from time to time with the sisters outside activities.

Meeting the sisters had opened up a lot of new doors for Emma. She had a job she enjoyed, had gotten the chance to learn more from her craft, and met a lot of very interesting people.

“Yo, barmaid!” Emma heard a male voice shout from the other side of the bar. With a roll of her eyes, Emma turned to see a guy in his mid to late twenties leaning across the bar towards her. He was the typical guy you found in this or any other club. Hair slicked back, silk shirt open at the top, and thinking every girl in the room wanted to be seen with him.

“Am I gonna get some service over here,” the guy said once she turned to him. Biting back all the things she wanted to say, Emma plastered a false smile across her lips and walked over to him. “How about a beer then, darling.”

Again biting back her words, Emma turned to take the wannabe Romeo’s order, knowing full well his eyes were still roaming over her. One of the unfortunate things she was forced to get used to in this job was how to deal with idiots like him.

Turning back round to take the guys money, Emma couldn’t help but notice the horrible, appreciative smile on his face.

“Thanks, gorgeous,” he said with another smile, this time looking her up and down. Emma said nothing, just took the money and turned her back on him.

“Emma,” she heard a more familiar and welcome voice call to her. The smile was real this time as she saw Chris beckoning to her.

Chris was one of those interesting people Emma had met through the Halliwell sisters. He had simply appeared in the Manor attic a few months ago claiming he was from the future here to save Wyatt. Emma had met him during one of her visits to the Manor and the pair had hit it off immediately, instant friends. It was only recently that her, and the sisters, had found out exactly who Chris actually was. He was Piper and Leo’s youngest son, little brother to Wyatt.

“Hey, Chris,” Emma said, stepping up to him. “You want anything in particular, or are you just here to grace me with your presence.”

Chris actually smiled then, and Emma couldn’t help but smile back. One, because he had such a gorgeous and infectious smile and two, because Emma had to admit that she had the smallest of crushes on the guy. Few girls wouldn’t because he was gorgeous, there was no denying that. She watched him when he was in the club, the amount of girls that came up to him or gave him the eye that he turned down. She guessed that he was still getting over Bianca, his fiancée from the future he had lost at the hands of Wyatt. But he could be such a sweet guy when he wanted to be. The sisters didn’t see the side of him that she did. Unless he was on one of his demon benders, he was a great guy to be around. Whereas she got to see the fun side of him, the only thing the sisters ever saw him as was their sarcastic, neurotic Whitelighter/nephew from the future.

But, despite how much she did care for him, there were two good reasons why she would never let anything happen between them if the situation ever arose. Firstly, Chris was from a different timeline and would be going back there when he finished what he had come back to do. She didn’t want to fall in love with him then be the one left behind when he went back. And secondly, she already had a fiancé herself, whether he was one she loved or not.

“I was actually looking for Piper,” Chris said in answer to her question, his smile still in place.

“Sorry, the sisters are AWOL tonight,” Emma told him.

“All night?” he asked.

“Yep,” she answered. “Which would explain why I’m back here on my own.”

Just then, a bunch of slightly intoxicated girls on a hen night stumbled loudly up beside her, ordering their next round. Seeing the difference between being too drunk to stand and simply having a good time, Emma served them with a smile. Turning back round, Emma was happy to see Chris still stood where he had been moments ago.

“Do you want a drink or something anyway?” she asked him.

“No, that’s ok,” he answered. “I’ll be in the back room if you want me.”

“Chris,” Emma said, reaching out for his arm as he turned to leave, causing him to turn to her. “You know, it can’t be right or healthy staying permanently cooped up in that tiny room.”

“I’m fine, Emma, really,” Chris said, trying to pull free of her grip but she was holding too tight.

“Stay out here for a bit,” Emma said, almost begging. “Have a drink, talk to your friend who lately, you don’t spend more than a minute at a time with.” Chris actually smiled at that, half-laughing.

“I wish I could, really, but….”

“You’ve got a job to do, people to save, I know, I know,” Emma said, having heard him say it time and time again. “Fine, I’ll just go back to manning the bar… alone. Oh, and if you hear a commotion, I’ve just snapped with the stress and attacked the customers.”

“Are you really that over-worked out here?” Chris asked.

“Well, all three sisters are out for the night, and I’m not blaming them. They deserve a night off with everything. But it’s also Izzy’s night off, and Matt called in sick. The only help I’ve got is Katie, and we all know how little work she does when Piper’s not around. She spends most of the night flirting with the customers. So, basically, I’m on my own.”

For a minute, Chris just sat there, watching Emma as she hurried around the bar from customer to customer. Eventually he stood up, climbing across the bar to stand at her side.

“What are you doing?” Emma asked once she saw him.

“Making myself useful and helping you out,” Chris answered. “You look like you’re about to drop.”

“What about your other work?” Emma asked, raising her eyebrows.

“It can wait,” Chris said, shrugging it off.

“In that case, thank you,” Emma said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek in the affectionate way she did so often.

For the next half an hour or so, Chris and Emma danced past each other as they moved to serve the waiting customers. Every now and then, Emma watched with a smile at the way Chris was around the female customers that were practically grabbing at him. He’d smile that irresistible smile of his, maybe wink at the occasional girl, but he was always polite when he eventually pushed them away with their drinks.

Emma didn’t notice but every now and then, Chris was watching her. She had worked here for a while now, so she was almost an expert when it came to dealing with all the guys that were flirting with her. She really was a beautiful girl, so it was no wonder nearly every guy she served tried it on with her. She would smile sexily, and that smile of hers really was sexy, then maybe she’d let out a sweet laugh at whatever attempt at a joke they had made. She would flirt, play nice with them, but always walk away once they had their drinks, flashing that smile.

“Chris, honey,” Emma called to him in that sweet tone that meant she wanted something.

“Yes,” Chris said with a deep sigh, turning to her.

“You wouldn’t be a doll and get a crate of vodka from the back would you?” she said, smiling innocently at him. “We’re out, and it’s far too heavy for little old me to carry.”

“For you, anything,” Chris said with a mock bow, making Emma giggle slightly as he left.

“Thank you!” she called after. He just raised his hand to show he’d heard her as he walked into the back room.

Chris had been back there for almost ten minutes before Emma wonder what might have been taking him so long. She turned to the back room in time to hear a low, muffled crash and see the door rattle slightly. Looking around the club, Emma saw that she seemed to be the only one who had noticed.

Jumping across the bar herself. Emma moved through the dense crowd and to the back room. Stepping through, Emma immediately had to duck the fireball heading straight for her head, giving out an involuntary yelp. Her appearance in the room caused both Chris and the demon who had threw the fireball to turn her way.

“Emma, duck!” Chris yelled at her as another fireball flew her way. Darting forward, Chris grabbed Emma’s arm, dragging her out of the path of the fireball and inadvertedly putting himself in it. The fireball grazed across his shoulder with enough force to knock him back against the far wall.

The minute Chris went down, the demon again turned his attention to the newcomer and who he saw as the weak one. But before another fireball could fly, Emma sent a spinning kick his way, hitting him directly in the stomach and making him stumble backwards. With all the demons now in her life, Emma had taken the opportunity to learn martial arts. She didn’t have powers, but that didn’t mean she had to be powerless.

The demon stood back up and Emma again went to kick him, but he was ready this time. Her kick didn’t get chance to land as he grabbed her foot, pulling back and knocking her hard onto her back, her head hitting against the wall. Slightly dazed, Emma didn’t get chance to move as the demon fired up another fireball. Smirking, he released the fireball, sending it flying towards Emma.

All Emma could do what let out a terrified shriek as the fireball flew at her, knowing that with the speed of the thing she would never move in time to get out of it’s way. But that wasn’t need as, inches away from her, the fireball changed direction, returning to sender and vanquishing him in a burst of flames. Panting with fear, Emma looked up to see Chris lowering his arm, moving to stand over her.

“Are you alright?” Chris asked, helping her to her feet.

“Yeah, my head just hurts a little. You’re the one that’s bleeding,” Emma said, reaching out and gently touching his wounded shoulder.

“It’ll be fine,” he said. However, he had trouble hiding the small grimace of pain as he moved his shoulder.

“Sure it will,” she said with a smile. “As soon as Leo heals you.”

Chris opened him mouth to argue, but at the almost pleading look in his friends eyes, he gave in and sighed, holding out his hand to her. Emma, however, didn’t take his hand like he had expected. Instead she just stared at him, looking like she didn’t want to take his hand, which Chris truly didn’t understand.

“You gonna take my hand or not?” Chris said.

“Not if you’re gonna orb, no,” Emma answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Well, yeah, I was,” Chris said, not dropping his hand. “You’re the one who wants me to go back to Leo.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean orb there,” Emma said with a slightly childish but very cute pout. “It always makes me slightly nauseous as it is, and I already fell a little dizzy.”

“Em!” Chris droned out, holding his hand out closer to her.

“Fine,” Emma said with a slightly defeatist tone, slipping her hand into Chris’. Smiling comfortingly at her, Chris gently pulled her a little closer to him, orbing the two of them out and back to the manor, landing in the living room in front of Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

The minute they materialised, Emma staggered slightly, Chris catching her as she fell into him. When they saw Emma stagger, fall, the sisters were on their feet as well, obviously thinking the worst.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok, Emma?” Paige asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Emma said, straightening herself up with Chris’ help, his arms still keeping a hold on her. “You can blame the demon who thought it was fun to throw me around the room.”

“Demon?” Piper said, her eyes going wide as they flicked between Emma and her adult son. “Where? What happened? Are you sure you guys are alright?”

“We’re fine, mum, both of us,” Chris said, soothing his panicked mother.

“No, you are not, Chris,” Emma said, purposefully poking at Chris’ wounded shoulder, even if it was only gently, and making him groan slightly.

“Oh my, God. Leo!” Piper called, finally noticed her son’s fireball grazed shoulder. Seconds later, obviously hearing the panic in his wife’s voice, Leo orbed in.

“What’s wrong?”

“Chris,” Piper said, pointing at their son as Emma moved out of the way, letting Leo see the wounded shoulder, which he immediately healed.

“What did this?” he asked.

“A fireball,” Chris answered simply.

“Yeah, and we’re still waiting for you to tell us exactly what happened,” Phoebe said, looking between the now healed Chris and Emma. “Either of you.”

“It was in the back room of P3,” Chris answered. “I went back to get a crate of vodka and there was this demon already waiting for me. I barely had chance to duck out of the road when he attacked.”

“That’s how you got hit?” Phoebe asked, motioning to his shoulder.

“No. Emma came in the back and I got this trying to pull her out of the line of fire.”

“Yeah… sorry for distracting you,” Emma said with a slightly nervous, please-forgive-me smile.

“Rather me than you,” Chris said with a true smile back at her.

“Do you recognise what kind of demon this was?” Paige asked.

“No, and it doesn’t matter now,” Chris said, brushing this attack off in his usual manner. “He gone, vanquished to the pits of hell.”

“Yeah, but there could still be more after him, maybe even wanting revenge for their fallen comrade now,” Paige said. “And it’s clear they’re after you, Chris.”

“And you came up with that theory how?” Chris said.

“Well, you said this demon was waiting for you when you went in the back room,” Piper said.

“Yeah, but it’s your club, mum. The demons have gotta know that by now, so they could have been after any of you three.”

“Yeah, but you’re the only one who uses that room. We need to look in the Book, find out what demon it was. And you….” Piper said, pointing a finger at Chris. “You are not going back to the club tonight.”

“And where am I suppose to sleep?”

“Anywhere but the club. I’d say here, but there’s simply no room with everyone here tonight, honey.”

“Mum, I appreciate the concern, I really do, but I doubt they will be back. Not tonight anyone.”

“Do you really wanna test that?” Phoebe said.

“I know I don’t,” Emma said with a soft smile, raising her hand slightly.

“Ok, but I repeat, where am I supposed to stay?”

“You can always stay with me.”

Emma wasn’t even aware she had said that until it left her mouth. But now she was more than aware of the eyes of all the family on her.

“Are you sure about that?” Paige asked her.

Emma paused, turning her eyes solely on Chris now. She was about to say that although she really wanted him safe, maybe him staying with her was not the best idea because of her fiancée, Shaun. He already didn’t really like Chris, mainly because of just how well Emma seemed to get on with him. And for however long Chris was going to be in her life for, she really didn’t want any more arguments between her fiancée and her best friend.

But the minute her eyes caught onto Chris’, saw that look somewhere between pleading and excitement at the prospect, Emma again found herself speaking with without full awares.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”


	2. Chapter Two

From the hallway of a slightly run down apartment building, a blue light momentarily flashed beneath a door marked ‘FIRE EXIT’. Seconds later, the rickety door was pushed open and Emma stuck her head into the corridor, scanning it before stepping out, Chris right behind her. Emma had insisted that Chris orb her in somewhere away from where anyone could see. This may not be the best place in town, but it was one of the most affordable, which meant there was enough people roaming round the hallway during the day. That left out the corridor. And Shaun was yet to find out about her alter ego, and he may be at home, so the apartment was out too. The cobwebbed stairway no one ever ventured down was the only option.

Pulling her keys from her pocket, Emma took longer than usual to open her door. And during the wait, she was praying to any God that would listen to her that her fiancé was not inside that apartment. He had never liked Chris from the moment Emma had introduced, so she hoped to wait as long as possible to have to tell him Chris would be staying with them. She needed to really prepare what she was going to say… and practise!

Scanning the apartment as she stepped inside, Emma breathed a silent sigh of relief when it was clear that Shaun was nowhere to be seen yet.

And all this didn’t go unnoticed by Chris.

“Ok,” Chris said, moving round to face Emma once he shut the door behind them. “It’s just you and me now, so I want the truth. Am I really ok staying here?”

“Of course,” Emma said with a slightly nervous laugh. “Why would you think that….”

“Shaun,” Chris said simply.

"Right,” Emma breathed out. “Well Shaun does… he… I mean that he….”

“Hates me,” Chris finished for her, not even turning it into a question.

“Hate’s a little harsh, I think,” Emma said with a nervous smile. The kind Chris always found kinda cute and couldn’t help smiling at her. “I think it’s more a… well, honestly, I think he might actually be jealous of you. You know, the amount of time we spend together and everything.”

“Jealous like he think we’re… closer than he likes,” Chris said mischievously, playing with her as he stalked towards. Emma, as was usual, just stood her ground and smiled back at him.

“Something like that, I guess,” Emma said, her smile now just as playful as Chris’.

“Huh. I guess I can see why he hates me then. I mean, taking you away from him and all.”

“Like I said, maybe hate’s a bit too harsh a word.”

“Of course.”

For a minute, the pair stood in the centre of the room, now only inches apart and both smiling like they were sharing a private joke. Which, in their own way, they were. Chris had always figured that Shaun actually did, despite what Emma said, hate him. He saw him as competition to Emma. And she was an amazing girl, who any guy would want to keep when they had her. But the thing was, Chris didn’t think Shaun deserved Emma, and he loved to know that he was messing with him, getting on his nerves. Emma knew this as well, and even if she stayed with Shaun, she still found it highly hilarious to know that her hanging round Chris could truly get to him. Kept him on his toes somehow, knowing another guy could easily come in and sweep her off her feet if he really wanted to.

The only thing was, at time, Chris did actually want to do that. Sweep her off her feet and get her away from Shaun.

And at times, Emma wanted to let him.

“This is my place too, Chris,” Emma said, her smile leaving. Chris just stared at her, wondering where the hell she was going with this. “What I mean is yes, Chris, you will be fine staying here. If Shaun doesn’t like it, he’s gonna have to live with it.” She said that a lot more confidently than she felt about the subject, and hoped Chris didn’t notice.

She guessed he didn’t when he simply smiled almost thankfully at her.

“Glad to hear it,” he said.

“Come on, like I could leave you without a place to stay,” Emma said, playfully hitting him across the arm. “Besides, you’ve gotta know I’m getting something out of this too.”

“Oh,” Chris said kinda cheerfully. “And what exactly is that?”

“Protection,” Emma said with her own smirk. “Shaun knows nothing about my ‘other life’, he can’t do anything during a demon attack. You however, can.” All Chris did to this statement was laugh.

“You know what,” he said, wrapping his arm round her shoulder and pulling her into his side. “I really don’t care if you are simply using me for that. I’m actually glad I can play some part in keeping you safe.”

“I’m not just using you for that, you know,” Emma said from her position cuddled against his shoulder. “I do like having you around. No… love it.”

“I know, babe,” he said softly to her, wrapping his other arm round her and drawing her into a hug. Emma happily wrapped her other arm round him as well, falling comfortably into the embrace.

Stood in the centre of the room, holding Emma in his arms, Chris suddenly came to the realisation that he was perfectly happy where he was. And what made it feel all the better to him was that Emma seemed happy to, her arms wrapped tight round him and her head rest against his chest. And he knew she was smiling. Truth be told, the only time he had ever seen Emma smile out of true happiness was when she was around him or the sisters. She was just so much more in her element when she was with them, where she was suppose to be. She was marrying Shaun, which meant she had to have some feelings for the guy, clearly some kind of love, but there was just something about him that Chris didn’t like. And the fact that he never seemed to make her smile or laugh was definitely top of the things that were off about this relationship.

The now silence of the room was broken by a heavy thud coming from the kitchen window. The fifth floor kitchen window. The startled pair jumped at the noise, their momentum taking them into the couch and knocking it over, sending them toppling with it. Cautious and on full alert, Chris and Emma both glanced up over the edge of the upturn couch to find a bird perched precariously on the window sill, looking dazed and dizzy from where it had clearly flown into the window, the bird sized smudge a big giveaway.

Safe, the two of the now had to collapse back against the couch, no longer able to hold themselves up as they fell into easy laughter, leaning into each other. One of those random and fun rare moments between the two where the littlest thing made them fall about in laughter. Now, however, their fun time was cut short as the door swung open and Shaun stepped in, staring at the scene in front of him.

For a moment, the three of them just continued to stare at each other, caught in a moment that would have looked comical to anyone on the outside.

“What the hell is going on here?” he finally asked after that long moment of awkward silence.

“Erm… well…. You remember Chris, right,” Emma said, stammering out the first thing that came to her mind as she and Chris dragged themselves to their feet.

“Of course I know who he is,” Shaun said, clearly attempting to remain relatively calm in this situation he had been presented with, and with his already overactive imagination concerning the two of them. “What I wanna know is exactly what he’s doing here so late.”

“Well… he’s gonna be sort of… stayin’ with us for a few days,” Emma informed him. Her statement was again met by a stony silence and an open-mouthed stare from her fiancé, his eyes flicking between the two of them.

“Emma, can I speak to you for a moment. Privately,” Shaun said in a tone that was clear held no room for argument.

That was made even clearer when he turned from the room, not even waiting for her to follow. Emma shared a look with Chris before getting up and following him out of the front door, finding him already waiting for her in the landing, still looking extremely pissed off.

“Shaun, look….” Emma began, already trying to appease him.

“No,” Shaun interrupted, not calming. “Why the hell is he staying in our place?”

“There was a flood in his apartment,” Emma said, quickly embellishing and avoiding the word ‘demon’ or anything supernatural. “He couldn’t exactly stay there now.”

“So he’s staying here!” Shaun pretty much screamed. “He doesn’t have any family members who could take him in.”

“The only relatives who live close by couldn’t take him in right now. He had no where else to go, so I offered my place….”

“Our place. You offered him our place to stay at.”

“This was my place to begin with. You moved in, so….”

“Yeah, you asked me to move in, right before we got engaged, so I figure I got the right of say for decisions like this.”

At this point, Emma was beginning to lose what little patience she had left for Shaun and his moods.

“Look, Shaun, Chris is one of my best friends. He was in trouble, I helped him out, simple as that. I don’t think he’ll be here that long, just a few weeks, so do you think you could be just a little civil to him. For me.”

Shaun stared at her, as much as she hated to admit it, the words ‘for me’ getting to him.

“Two weeks,” he said after trying to stare her down. “Two weeks then he’s out of here. Simple as that.”

Emma stepped aside as Shaun abruptly swept past her back into the apartment. Alone, she took a deep, calming breath. This whole jealously thing Shaun had with towards Chris. It has been sweet at first, the macho pride about his girl being his, but now….

Making her own way back into the apartment, Emma saw Chris was the only one in the living room, getting to his feet from the now upright couch.

“Did he say anything to you?” Emma asked, nodding towards the bedroom where she knew Shaun would be.

“No,” Chris answered. “He just glared at me before going into your room.”

Emma simply nodded. Neither one of them were going to say anything else right now. It would just go the same way it already had. Chris would say he didn’t want to be a bother, come between Emma and Shaun, and he would find somewhere else to stay. Emma would argue back that he was being ridiculous, he was here friend and staying her like she said. They knew each other well, and Chris knew that when Emma said something, she stuck to it.

So instead, Emma made herself busy with gathering the spare sheets for Chris, handing them to him as he stood by his bed, the couch.

“Goodnight, Chris,” Emma said with a soft smile before she headed to her bedroom.

“Goodnight, Emma,” Chris replied to her retreating back, getting the words out before she closed the door for the night.

@~~>~~~

Next morning, Emma was swiftly woken from her light sleep by a series of muffled crashes from the main room. Adjusting her eyes to the morning light and waking herself up, Emma glanced to her right side to see the bed empty, Shaun already gone. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she sighed deeply and hoped to God Shaun and Chris weren’t killing each other out there.

What she saw when she left her room, however, was worse.

Shaun was nowhere to be seen, but Chris was still in the living room, and he wasn’t alone. Grabbing him by the collar, suspending him in mid-air, was a demon, and one who looked awfully like the demon that had attacked them the other night. The same dark clothes, long tangled hair and yellow cat-like eyes.

Just as Emma entered the room, the demon let Chris go, throwing him towards her and knocking both of them to the ground. Before Chris even had time to figure it was Emma he had fallen against, the demon was back over them, picking them both up with the greatest of ease. Looking between them, he settled his attentions on Chris, throwing Emma aside like she was nothing more than a rag-doll. She fell against the kitchen counter, sliding painfully to the floor and taking a number of work-top items with her.

Chris, still fighting against the demon, had manoeuvred away enough to throw the demon into the wall with a flick of his wrist. The demon, clearly annoyed that his victim was fighting back, powered up an energy ball to finish him off. Emma searching the contents on the floor round her, wrapped her hand round the nearest weapon: a butchers knife.

Throwing with more accuracy than she would normally possess, Emma threw the knife, hitting the demon in the back and vanquishing him before the energy ball could fly. The knife, suspended in the air for a second, clattered to the floor.

“You ok?” Emma asked Chris, pulling herself to her feet with the assistance of the kitchen worktop.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. What about you?” Chris asked, making his way towards her.

“Nothing a couple of aspirin won’t cure,” she told him, gently rubbing the sore spot on her head that had collided with the cabinet. “As if my migraines are bad enough, now I have to suffer through demon-induced headaches too.”

“Guess me staying here changed nothing on the demon front,” Chris said, snaking past Emma to fill a glass of water from the sink behind her.

“It looks like these guys are a little more determined than we first thought,” Emma said, now watching Chris with growing intrigued.

He handed the water to Emma and began rummaging through the cupboards, opening each one in turn, closing it when he didn’t find what he was looking for. Emma was about to ask him what he was doing when he found the right cupboard, turning with a bottle of aspirin in his hands. Emma smiled in thanks at him as she emptied a couple of tablets into her hand and swallowed them with the water.

“If you’d have simply told me what you were looking for, we could have done this a lot quicker,” Emma said with a grin Chris returned.

“Do you think mom and the sister will want to know about this,” Chris said, coming back to the demon topic. “I mean, two attacks in as many days. A trait like persistence might help them narrow the field.”

“Yeah,” Emma agreed, setting the now empty glass down on the side. “It might be a good idea to mention this to the sisters. Maybe even now.”

Understanding and nodding, Chris made to orb out just as Emma heard the sound of the lock turning in the front door. Acting to keep their secret, Emma grabbed Chris’ arm, keeping him solid. And not a moment too sound as Shaun walked in a second later, his eyes going wide.

“What the hell happened here!?” Shaun yelled, his eyes flitting round the room. It was only then that Chris and Emma really looked at the mess around them.

Like last night, the couch was upturned, this time taking the table with it, both lying in a tented heap. From where Emma had been thrown, the kitchen utensils were scattered around the floor, porcelain and glass from broken kitchen ware dotted between them. The other kitchen utensil on the floor, the knife used to kill the demon, was lay away from everything else in the centre of the room. And then there was also a rather large, very much person shaped dent in the wall where the demon had hit. The room most definitely looked like there had been a fight... and Chris and Emma where the only two stood in it.

Stumbling to answer Shaun’s question, Emma and Chris began to ramble on almost incoherently, overlapping each other and sounding like a couple of naughty children caught misbehaving. They only stopped when Shaun held up his hand to silence them, shaking his head.

“He’s been here one day and something like this happens already,” Shaun said to Emma, motioning round the battered room. “And you expect me to put up with this for two weeks.”

“Shaun, I think that….” Emma began, only to be silenced by Shaun’s raised hand again before he turned to Chris.

“I’m doing this for Emma, and Emma only,” Shaun told him. “Two weeks ends, you’re still here, I’m kicking you out whether you’ve got a place to stay or not. You got that.”

Not giving Chris a chance to respond, Shaun stalked away from them, heading into his and Emma’s room. He didn’t slam the door, thankfully, but he did make a point of closing it behind him, blocking Chris and Emma on the other side.

“Well, looks like these two weeks are gonna be fun,” Chris muttered sarcastically.

“The best,” Emma returned.


	3. Chapter Three

The unmistakeable and devastatingly loud thud of a slamming door echoed through the small apartment. It had become a common sound recently, one that always woke Chris, this morning being no exception. His eyes snapping abruptly open, Chris didn’t need the slight shaking of the front door to tell him why he had been knocked back to reality. Now, however, the loud thud was followed by a much softer one and a weary sigh, which led into a deep silence.

Swinging his legs to a sitting position with a sigh of his own, Chris threw on his shirt from the back of the couch. Standing, he made his way to the slightly ajar bedroom door where the sigh had emitted from. Inside, he found Emma collapsed back on her bed, her legs still dangling over the edge and her arm covering her eyes.

“Good morning,” Chris said cautiously.

“Morning,” Emma replied, neither sitting up or removing the arm from her eyes.

“Is everything ok?” he asked.

“Just peachy,” Emma answered sarcastically, still not moving an inch.

“Ok, well how about some coffee,” Chris suggested, trying to take away the tension that hung thickly in the air. “And, if I can find something to rustle up, I’ll even make breakfast.” For the first time this morning, Chris saw the beginnings of a smile on Emma’s lips as she sat up and moved her arm.

“You do that, you might be able to live up to your angel status,” Emma said, her smile most definitely aimed at him now. Chris smiled back, turning on his heels and heading back into the kitchen to do as promised. He had put the water on the boil and his head was in the fridge when he heard Emma making her way out of the bedroom. “Shaun left early again,” Emma said in a conversational sort of tone.

“I heard,” Chris stated as he finished making the coffee, not going into more detail. Again he heard a soft thud and a weary sigh, and turned to see Emma had collapsed onto the couch. “Something wrong?” he asked as he walked round to her side of the couch with the coffees.

“No, nothing,” Emma answered, taking the cup from him with a thankful smile as he sat beside her.

“Emma, come on, you know you can’t lie to me. I know when something’s wrong with you, so tell me.”

Chris waited, patiently, while Emma took a sip of her coffee, doing everything to avoid looking at him. He waited until, finally, she pretty much slammed the cup on the table, turning fully to him.

“What am I doing here, Chris?” Emma asked him abruptly.

“Well, you’re having a morning coffee with your best friend,” Chris said, smirking slightly.

“No, I’m serious,” Emma said, not laughing like Chris had hoped. “I mean what am I doing here, in my life? What am I doing here, in this apartment? What am I doing here, with… with Shaun?”

“What are you saying, Emma?” Chris asked, setting his coffee cup beside hers.

“I just… I just don’t know anymore. This isn’t the way I wanted my life to be,” Emma said softly, and Chris could see the tears beginning to form behind her eyes.

“Awww, Em, come here,” Chris said, pulling Emma into his arms. She gratefully accepted the embrace, her head resting on his shoulder as the tears fell her legs tucked up under her so her body was curled into a small ball, looking like a fragile child in his arms. “I think everyone feels like that at one point in their life.”

“I know that, I really do. But the way things are going, it’s… it’s like me and Shaun are slowly turning into my mum and dad.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“For me, yes, because I never wanted to be like them. I never wanted a marriage like theirs. They were high school sweethearts, married young… and then everything went wrong. They hated each other. I mean really hated each other, to the point where they couldn’t even stand to be in the same room as each other. During the end of their marriage, I know that the only reason they stayed together was… was for their kids. I’m one of the reasons my parents were so unhappy, and knowing that killed me when I was young. I never, ever wanted to be like that, blaming my kids for my miserable life.”

Emma was really crying now, her body wracked with sobs, and Chris pulled her tighter into his arms to the point where she was practically sat across his lap.

“You and Shaun don’t have to end up like that, you can change things.”

“But that’s exactly where we’re heading. Lately, I’ve noticed that no matter what I do, that’s how we’re gonna end up.”

“Lately… as in since I got here?”

“No, Chris, this had nothing to do with you being here. This all started before you. His jealousy over us, it’s just an excuse. Another bogus reason for us to drift further apart. That’s not what I want from the man I’m supposed to be marrying. I don’t want to be stuck with someone out of a warped sense of compliance. What I want is the dream, Chris. Someone I care about who cares about me the same way. Someone who’ll make me laugh, not cry, and comfort me. Someone I actually, truly want to be around. Someone….”

Emma let her voice trail off, an uneasy fear growing within her. That ‘someone’ she had described, she already knew who it was, already had him in her life. She was, at that moment, sitting in his arms.

Chris. He was everything that Shaun wasn’t, his complete opposite. He had everything on that list going for him, and she truly cared about him. She cared about him more than she would ever admit, extremely close to the point where….

But she couldn’t. They couldn’t. They were from completely different timelines, and Chris wasn’t even born yet in this one. Someday soon, Chris would have to go back to his time, and that thought already hurt more than Emma ever imagined it could.

As if her body worked as a will of it’s own outside her mind, Emma suddenly realised that she had tightened her hold around Chris, as if keeping him close would take away the thoughts and fears of him leaving.

“Emma….” Chris said softly, causing her to look up at him. And when their eyes met, Emma could have sworn she saw something in them. Something that told her maybe, just maybe, he was thinking the same as her.

But whatever else may have been said between them was cut short as Chris looked up, hearing another sound.

“It’s mum, and it sounds important,” Chris said, softly kissing her forehead as he moved her out of his arms.

“You better go before Piper really starts yelling at you,” Emma said, trying her best to lighten the mood after everything.

“I know, but I just hate leaving you here alone like this,” Chris said with a small smile.

“Well, it’s a good job I’m coming with you then,” Emma said, getting to her feet beside him. “And that is a statement which is not up for discussion. All I’m gonna be doing today is moping around here with nothing to do, so at least this get me away. No arguments, you got it?”

Chris just laughed slightly as he took her hand, orbing them away, never even intending to make any arguments.

@~~>~~~

Arriving at the manor, Chris and Emma found Piper, Phoebe and Paige already in the attic and stood over the scrying map.

“You rang, guys,” Chris said as he and Emma stepped through the door. Piper looked up at his voice, smiling when her eyes fell on Emma. She should have known he had come with her. Chris was completely neurotic and goal orientated in pretty much everything he did, sometimes quite aggravating to be around… except when he was with Emma. When Emma was around, her future son was such a different person, now full of smiles and jokes. She was most definitely good for him.

“Yeah, and it’s kinda good that both of you came,” Piper said. “We’ve scried and found the location on yet another one of your stalker demons.”

“Well, at least that’s what we hope,” Phoebe said. “Which is kinda why we needed you to come along, Chris. Identification, since you’re the only one’s it’s attacked so far.”

“And then if you give us a positive ID, we can vanquish him with these babies,” Paige added, holding up a couple of potion bottles.

“If we can get rid of these pests once and for all, I’m happily on board,” Chris said.

“Too right,” Emma added with a small smile. “And I’ll….”

“You will stay right here,” Chris finished for her. “You don’t need to get yourself injured again by one of these demons.”

“No way!” Emma pretty much shrieked back at him. “These demons are my fight too, and I do not run away from the battle when it gets a little tough. I’ve told you that.”

“Yeah, and I’ve also told you that I’m not about to be the one that puts you in danger,” Chris said. “I’m just not, Emma.”

“But….” Emma began, still trying her hardest to argue with him.

“No buts,” Chris interrupted. “Please, Emma, just stay here where I don’t have to worry about you.” Without waiting for her to say anything else, Chris turned away from Emma and to the sisters, who were stood watching the pair nervously.

“You guys ready?” he asked them. They all began muttering over each other, gathering the stuff they needed. Chris turned back round, chancing a glance at the quiet Emma. The hard edge had gone from her eyes, but she was still staring at him.

“So what, I’m not allowed to worry about you?” Emma said, replying to his earlier statement. Chris smiled gently at her, moving a step forward and taking hold of her hand.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” Chris assured her, giving her hand a little squeeze before stepping back to the sisters. Paige took hold of Phoebe and Chris took Piper, preparing to orb. And as they did, as their bodies began to turn to little blue and white lights, Emma darted forward, taking a hold of Chris’ arm on his free side so he ended up taking her with them anyway.

The minute Chris materialised at their new destination, he felt the strong grip on his other arm and knew without a doubt who it was. Letting go of Piper, Chris span round to face a smirking Emma.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Chris yelled at her.

“Coming with you, just like I said I was going to,” Emma answered very matter of factly.

“Yes, but I thought I said you were staying at the manor,” Chris replied.

“Yeah, well, when have you ever won in one of our fights?” Emma asked with another, very wide, smirk.

“Look,” Piper said, stepping forward to play mediator as usual when she saw Chris about to continue to argue. “She’s here now and there’s nothing we can do about it. We can, however, keep our voices down considering we have no idea where this demon is.”

Chris, conceding his mother’s point, gave Emma one last look before moving with the four girls to explore the new destination they had landed in. The group now found themselves wandering round what appeared to be an old, unused factory building. There were broken apart cardboard boxes strewn across the floor like a carpet, rusted and useless dead machines towering over them, and smashed windows and doors, letting in the only light.

All in all, not the kind of place any of them expected to land.

“You know,” Emma began, talking softly. “When I think of those demons, this is not exactly the first kind of place that springs to mind.”

“You’re right,” Chris said, the pair agreeing for the first time tonight. “Abandoned warehouses aren’t exactly the norm.”

“This is where the crystal landed,” Piper said, defending her skills as a witch. “He’s here, so keep a look out.”

The group kept quiet after that, keeping an eye and an ear open for anything out of the ordinary. It was Emma who noticed something first, putting her hand on Chris’ arm and pulling him to a stop.

“Do you hear that?” she asked softly, her whispered voice also stopping the sisters as they all listened. In the silence of the warehouse, the only sound that could be heard was the group breathing….

And distant footsteps.

Chris switched the hold between him and Emma, taking her arm and pulling her behind him as they moved closer to the sisters.

“Stay,” he muttered softly to her.

“I’m not a dog, you know,” she muttered back to him, though she did remain close to his side.

Seconds later the footsteps were gone and three of the demons shimmered in in front of them. Piper was quick on the defence, throwing up her hands and vanquishing one of them. The other two, however, did something quite unknown for demons. They brushed right past the Charmed Ones, merely knocking them aside as they focused on Chris and Emma.

Chris and Emma each took the demon who came at them, Chris with his telekinesis and Emma with her fighting skills, all she had. With a flick of his wrist, Chris sent the demon flying into the closest wall, stunning him for a second.

“Paige!” he screamed to the nearest family member he could see moving, the one he also knew had the potion. She threw it immediately, vanquishing the demon. Chris turned to look for the other demon just in time to see it throw Emma across the room. Another flick of his wrist and this demon was also thrown aside, ready for Paige to throw the potion and vanquish the final demon.

The fighting over, Chris ran across the room to Emma, who was lay extremely still where the demon had thrown her, blood flowing from a wound in her head. Without a word to the sisters, knowing they would follow him, Chris took Emma into his arms and orbed out.

He materialised in the manor’s living room, the sisters indeed seconds behind him.

“Dad!” he called out. “Dad, get down here!” Leo answered, orbing in beside his son.

“Chris, what the….” Leo began.

“Emma,” Chris interrupted, bringing Leo’s attention to the woman lying unconscious in his son’s arms. He kneeled beside them, his hands hovering over her with their healing glow. Seconds later, the wound was gone and Emma was sitting up, only to be pulled into Chris’ arms as he hugged her in relief.

“See, this is why I didn’t want you to come with us,” Chris whispered into her ear.

“I’m fine,” Emma whispered back to him. But, instead of being reassured, Chris almost forcefully pulled away from Emma and marched up the stairs without another word. Emma looked at the others in the room before following after Chris.

Upstairs she found him in the attic, frantically flipping through the Book of Shadows.

“Chris, what are you doing?” Emma asked him. “We’ve already found the demons.”

“No, I don’t think we have,” Chris said, not looking up from the Book.

“What are you talking about?” Emma asked.

“I think there’s an upper level demon behind all this, someone control these lackeys, because that’s all they are,” Chris went on. “I mean, look at tonight. With an opportunity to come at the Charmed Ones, the demons go for you and me instead. That shows me a plan with a much higher level of thinking then these demons are known for. They’re merely hired muscle.”

Emma watched Chris’ furrowed brow, his concentrated look, and his hand flipping quickly through the pages of the Book. And all she could do was laugh.

“What?” Chris said, looking up from the Book at Emma’s laughter.

“Nothing,” Emma said, still smiling at him. “I’ve just never seen you this determined before.”

“Yeah, well your life wasn’t directly in danger before,” Chris replied, going back to flipping through the pages of the Book.

“Awww, that’s sweet, Chris, really,” Emma said, laughing softly again.

“Em, this really isn’t a laughing matter,” Chris said, looking up again. “It’s clear that these guys are after you now, and you’ve got no way of protecting yourself.”

“Isn’t that what you’re for,” Emma said with a smirk and a quirk of her eyebrows. “I mean, that is why I let you move into my place against Shaun’s wishes, right?”

All Chris did in reply was give her a look of distain and a roll of his eyes before going back to the Book yet again. Emma let out a sigh and crossed the room to stand beside Chris, placing one hand across the page he was reading to grab his attention, her other arm going to his waist to both turn him to her and keep him in front of her. He had an unfortunate habit of escaping conversation that weren’t going his way by orbing out.

“Look Chris, I appreciate your concern for me, I really do. But I’m making such a joke out of this because I can take care of myself, powers or not, and you know that.”

At some point, Emma’s hand from the Book had moved to join the other one across the other side of Chris’ waist, his hands also moving of their own accord to rest against her arms.

“All of that doesn’t stop the fact that I want to protect you.”

“Don’t I have a fiancé that’s supposed to do that?”

“Yeah, one who knows nothing about your behind the scenes life, or the danger you end up in. Mostly thanks to me, actually.”

“Ok, you have a point there. Although not about you putting me in danger, because I do that well enough myself.” Moving the rest of the way forward, Emma wrapped her arms round his waist, leaning against his chest while Chris wrapped his own arms round her. “But if you wanna keep protecting me, that is absolutely fine with me, doll. I like how much you care.”

“I do care. A lot,” Chris said, pulling her a little closer to him and kissing the top of her head. Emma smiled and let her head rest contently against Chris’ chest, his cheek leaning into the softness of her hair. Both just stood happily enjoying the closeness and comfort they got from each other. A closeness Emma had found out only this morning that she craved more than anything. That was until they were interrupted by a short, shrill cry from behind them.

Turning, they saw Wyatt stood in the middle of the room, a pout on his lips and his eyes shining with tears. Emma pulled out of Chris’ grip and moved back across the room to lift the young boy into her arms.

“What’s up, little man,” Emma said softly to him, feeling his arms hold tight to her. From the other side of the room, she heard a muffled thud as Chris slammed the Book shut.

“God, why didn’t I think of this before,” he groaned out.

“Think of what?” Emma asked, turning back to face him.

“About why these demons just keep appearing. Why in a group they totally ignored the infamous Charmed Ones and only came after you and me. There’s only one explanation.” He paused here, only going on with a ‘please continue’ look from Emma. “These guys aren’t in the Book because the sisters haven’t faced them yet. They’re from the future. And the only person we know in the future capable or even willing, to do something like this, is Wyatt.”

“Come on Chris, there’s gotta be another explanation than that,” Emma said softly. “I mean, he doesn’t even know about me.”

Before Chris could argue back to that, a bright blue portal opened up on the wall behind them, causing Emma to back up closer to Chris’ side and protectively tighten her hold on Wyatt. However, the guy who stepped out from the portal was not actually what she had expected. He looked in his mid twenties and was dressed head to toe in black with bedraggled, dirty-blond hair and brown eyes that looked quite familiar. His face, though seemingly etched into a permanent scowl now, Emma knew at one point had been very handsome, again in a familiar way.

“Still think there’s another explanation?” Chris said, his words aimed at Emma even as his eyes held the new figure.

“What, you’re telling that is… is….” Emma stammered, her eyes flicking between the new intruder, Chris beside her, and young Wyatt in her arms.

“Hello, little brother,” the newcomer, apparently future Wyatt, said to Chris with a smirk before turning his attention to Emma. “Well, well, well, what have we here. It seems that wherever you go, Chris, you manage to pull together your little supporters. And very pretty little things at that. What is it you say to these girls? Or… perhaps it’s something you do.” Wyatt again smirked evilly as he took a step towards the pair. Chris took his own step forward, standing in front of Emma, the action making Wyatt laugh cruelly.

“Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t come here to attack your little girlfriend,” Wyatt told them. Emma, behind both the brothers, gently placed the young Wyatt on the floor, kneeling to be at his level.

“Wyatt, orb out to your mummy,” she told the young boy softly. He looked up into her eyes, those cruel brown eyes she could feel staring at her from above this time looking up at her with such innocence she could not believe would ever turn so much as he did as she said and orbed out.

“Sweetheart, I’m not dumb enough to do anything to myself,” Wyatt told her.

“I’m more worried about what influence you could have on him,” Emma said, defiantly holding eye contact with him as she straightened to a standing position beside Chris again. Wyatt laughed softly as he kept her gaze too.

“I like her, Chris,” he said to his brother. “She’s got guts.”

“What are you doing here, Wyatt,” Chris said, his features straight. “Or more importantly, how did you get here?”

“A lot of things have changed since you left, Chris. Including me. I’ve learnt I can do a lot of things you or the sisters never dreamed of.”

“ ‘The sisters’?” Emma echoed. “Don’t you mean your mother? And your aunts?”

“Yeah, well, I would rather not be associated with those useless witches, always so concerned about right and wrong, or the consequences. I am way beyond that now.”

“Right, now all you’re concerned with is power and who has the most,” Chris said. “How much good to you think that is gonna do you?”

“I didn’t come here to argue with you, dear brother. I came to bring you home.”

“And if I say no?” Chris asked.

“Well, I could never kill you,” Wyatt said with a smirk. “That would merely make you a martyr. But there is one thing I’ve found to be effective with you.” With a motion of his hand, Wyatt telekinetically pulled Emma to him, turning her to face Chris while he kept one arm holding her close round the neck. The other hand conjured an energy ball, holding it close to her.

“The woman you hold dear.”

“Wyatt, let her go,” Chris said, taking a step towards them, only to halt as Wyatt moved the energy ball closer to Emma.

“I’ll let her go, Chris, not a scratch on her, when you promise to come home like a good little boy.”

“Fine,” Chris answered. “I’ll come back, whatever you want, just let her go.”

“Chris, don’t,” Emma called to him, groaning in pain slightly as Wyatt held her tighter.

“Let her go, Wyatt,” Chris said calming, ignoring Emma’s comment. Wyatt laughed slightly, leaning closer to Emma’s ear.

“Oh, he must really care about you,” Wyatt whispered to her. “I mean, he knows what’s waiting for him… and it won’t be pleasant.”

Emma struggled her hardest against Wyatt’s hold, actually feeling tears beginning to form behind her eyes. There was no way she was letting Chris go back to that future he had told her about, not just to save her life. It was then that the sound of footsteps began travelling up the stairs and the scene within the attic froze.

“You wanna explain all this away to the sisters,” Emma said with a smirk towards Wyatt. “Because I doubt they’ll be too happy when they know what you’re gonna do to the good son.” The last word hitting home the way Emma had wanted them to, Wyatt growled slightly, extinguishing the energy ball in his hand.

“I do hope I’ll be seeing you again soon, sweetheart,” Wyatt hissed in her ear, kissing her cheek and them pushing her forward, Chris easily catching her in his arms.

“See you real soon, brother,” Wyatt said, orbing out. A second after he left the attic, Piper entered, baby Wyatt held in her arms with tears streaming down his eyes.

“What is going on up here?” she asked. “Wyatt just orbed in front of me, crying and screaming and pointing at the attic. What happened?”

“Nothing, mum,” Chris said, exchanging a look with Emma. She didn’t need that look to know to be quiet though. There was enough going on, Piper did not need to know that her eldest son was also in this time, trying to take her youngest to a future that was not holding any good things for Chris.

Wyatt, still crying, struggled in his mother’s arms until she put him down. The minute his feet touched the floor, they quickly carried him across the room to Emma, wrapping his little arms round her legs. Emma leant down and scooped him up into her arms, hugging him as those arms now wrapped round her neck. She loved this little child just as much as she loved all the Halliwell family, he was the sweetest child any mother could ask for.

And, after seeing what she had just seen, Emma was now just as determined as Chris to keep him this way.


	4. Chapter Four

Chris was woken abruptly in the middle of the night by a clatter coming from the kitchen. As always, he was awake and alert in only a matter of moments, looking round for the source of the sound. In the kitchen, he didn’t find no big, sulking monster or demon. Instead, he found Emma stood in front of the sink, her back to him and the recently cleaned dishes collapsed into a muddled pile on the side.

“Emma?” he said softly, sitting up on the couch. For a moment, she didn’t do anything. Didn’t move, didn’t say anything, didn’t acknowledge that he had spoken, like she hadn’t even heard him.

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she finally said, her voice just above a whisper.

“It’s been a long day, what are you doing awake at this hour?” Chris asked gently.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Emma said simply, still not turning around.

“Emma, will you come and sit over here, please,” Chris asked. “I’m not all too keen on talking to your back.”

“Chris, I’m fine, honest,” Emma said, although Chris didn’t believe her for a moment. “Why don’t you just go back to sleep and I promise I’ll try and be quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m not going back to sleep until you come and sit over here,” Chris told her.

For a moment, Emma stood still again. Chris thought she wasn’t going to move, and was just about to get up and physically pull her back towards the couch if he had to, but slowly, she did turn towards him. Just as slowly, she made her way over to the couch, sitting stiffly beside Chris as he slid over on the couch.

Chris sat watching her for a moment. She was pale, paler than he had seen her in a long time. And she was sat so stiffly, like she didn’t know what to do with herself. He shifted himself a little closer to her, taking her hand gently in his.

“The reason you can’t sleep? Nightmares, perhaps.” Emma nodded in answer to him. “Well, after the past few days….”

“It’s not all the demons, Chris,” Emma told him, a small laugh behind her voice. “After everything, that’s one part of my life that I don’t think scares me at all anymore. But today Chris, getting that little glimpse into your future….”

Chris understood completely. After Wyatt had left, Chris had orbed all over the place to try and find him, leaving Emma in the attic with Baby Wyatt. When he had come back a good few hours later, Emma was still there, and so was Baby Wyatt. Toys were scattered round the attic floor, and Emma was sat on the couch, Wyatt asleep on her lap as she softly stroked his hair. 

When Emma had finally acknowledged that Chris was back in the room, he had seen it in her eyes then. He had seen the fear and pain behind those eyes, even if she tried to hide it with what Chris could see was a pained smile. She knew the horror that Chris had left behind from his future… or at least part of it.

He could see the same look in her eyes now, even when she wasn’t looking at him fully.

“Because I think I get it now, Chris,” Emma continued. “I understand just why you’re back here, and why you’re so completely one minded about these things. I mean, when I look at that little boy, that sweet and innocent little child… I can’t imagine him tuning into that man today. That man with no regard for family or human life. He threatened me with an energy ball to get his own way Chris, and I know he would have gone through with it. I could feel it.”

“Oh he would have,” Chris agreed with her. “That’s why I was so willing to go with him, because I prefer you alive.”

“And you really would have gone back to save my life Chris, wouldn’t you?” Emma said, finally turning to face Chris head on.

“Without a second thought, and you know it,” Chris told her honestly.

“And you shouldn’t have Chris,” Emma said, tears pooling in her eyes. “What would have happened if you would have gone back? I’ll tell you what. That little boy I adore so much would have been left without anyone to protect him, and he would have turned into that monster who knew your weaknesses well enough to use me as bait. And I don’t even wanna begin to think what would have happened to you once you go back… and frankly I don’t think I want to know. All I know is that for none of us to live the life that I don’t like thinking about you living through, you need to be here, now. You’re too important to the whole future and timeline thing to go doing something like that.”

“And what, you don’t think your life is just as important?”

“Don’t look at me like I’m on a suicide kick, because I’m not. I just know that in the long run, the saving the whole future kinda big picture thing, you really are so much more important than I am.”

“Well, you are to me,” Chris said softly, gently tucking a piece of stray hair behind her ear, his hand lingering for maybe a moment more than was decent between friends.

But Emma said nothing, she simply tucked her legs up under herself on the couch and leant further into Chris, her head dropping onto his shoulder. Out of pure instinct, Chris curled his arm round the upper half of her body, pulling her snugly against his side. This position was all too familiar to the pair of them… and the thought that it was maybe just a little too intimate has crossed through their minds occasionally.

Growing up, this is what Emma had dreamed of most. Finding someone she felt so comfortable with, someone she could just curl up with contently in silence. Someone who, the minute their arms surrounded her, the worries of the world just suddenly melted away.

It was just a shame that those arms didn’t belong to her fiancé.

“Chris?” she mumbled softly, letting her eyes drop closed.

“Yes?” he replied, leaning his head down against Emma’s.

“We’re gonna solve this, right?” she said, her voice taking on a sleepy tone. “We’re gonna make sure that Wyatt becomes the good man he is meant to be… and you get to live that perfect life you deserve.”

“Yes, Emma, we’re gonna solve this. That’s a promise,” Chris told her, a soft smile gracing his lips.

Chris felt his own eyes slipping closed as he felt his body relax, the hardships of the day slithering away like the evil things they were. Holding this beautiful woman in his arms seemed to have that effect.

He had lived through a lot, Chris had. He’d witnessed Hell on Earth in the form of his tyrant of a big brother, been forced to live in hiding with the rest of the witches, and watched as all his family and all the people he loved most were murdered before his very eyes. All this in his short twenty odd years… yet the one thing he never had was the feeling in the pit of his stomach every time he was this close to Emma.

He truly had loved Bianca with all his heart. She had been there for him at a time when he had most needed someone, and a deep and meaningful love had grown from that. Their time together was something he wouldn’t change at all, not even the bad times, because they were part of what made him the way he was. But despite this, there was one thing he knew without a doubt.

If he and Emma had met in the future, he would have loved her more.

Her soft, even breathing told Chris that Emma had fallen asleep curled against his side. In yet another instinctive move, Chris pressed a soft, sweet kiss to the top of Emma’s head, feeling sleep wash over him as well, Chris relaxed down into the couch, Emma’s body adjusting to stay cuddled as they both drifted to dreamland.

In their own state, in a world completely just the two of them, neither Chris nor Emma had heard the other door in the apartment click open. And neither knew Shaun was stood behind them, watching the sleeping pair with a deadly glare even Wyatt would be proud of.

@~~>~~~

Emma’s mind slowly drifting back to the land of the living, stretching out her aching muscles. As she did, she felt her feet, head, and side meet obstructions, and opened her eyes to find herself stretching across the length of the couch. For a moment, she had to take her mind back. It took her a moment to remember talking with Chris on this couch, her head drooping to relax against his shoulder. She must have fallen asleep there.

Sitting up to read the clock over the back of the couch, Emma noticed for the first time that there was a blanket lay across her body. She couldn’t help the delighted smile that graced her lips at Chris’ thoughtfulness.

“Morning,” a voice spoke up behind her, making Emma jump slightly, gripping to the back off the couch to keep herself from falling off it. Turning, she found Shaun in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and watching her.

“Good morning, honey,” she replied, her smile a little less bright.

“It was a bit of a surprise to wake up and find you on the couch this morning,” Shaun said, his voice sounding awfully calm. Eerily calm, actually.

“Well… I couldn’t sleep, so I came out here and ended up talking it over with Chris,” Emma said, trying to brighten her smile. “Guess I must have fallen asleep out here.”

“If you were having such a problem sleeping, why didn’t you just stay and talk with me, your fiancé, instead of coming out here to Chris?” Shaun said, his voice beginning to loose that edge of calm.

“I didn’t come out here purposefully to talk to Chris,” Emma tried to explain herself. “I just ended up waking him up by mistake, and he was just there.”

“Oh, he was there, was he,” Shaun said, sarcasm edging clearly into his voice. “Well, I wonder what else Chris ‘was just there’ for that I’ve managed to miss.”

And that did it, Emma didn’t think she could take it anymore. She was sick of Shaun’s clear hatred towards Chris. He was her best friend, and if he was really gonna try and stop her from being around her friends now, what else would go when they were married? Heaving a deep sigh, Emma pushed the blanket away from her, standing off the couch.

“Please, Shaun, just stop this. No matter what you think of him, or me and him for that matter, Chris is one of my best friends. Me being engaged to you doesn’t stop me wanting to be his friend, nor does Chris being my friend stop me from caring about you.”

“You’ve really started to believe that, haven’t you? You’ve really fooled yourself into thinking there’s nothing between you two but friendship.”

“What on Earth are you talking about, Shaun?”

“I’m talking about Chris. Someone would have to be either blind or a complete fool not to see that he is completely into you, so which one are you?”

“Neither, because that is so far from the truth. Chris is my friend, nothing more. And I think you should credit me with enough sense to be able to tell if Chris was… what were the words you used? Into me?”

“You know what, it actually doesn’t matter what you’ve made yourself believe. Chris’ two weeks are almost up, which means he’s out of here very soon. And when he is gone, that’s it. I don’t wanna see him here again, I don’t wanna hear his name mentioned ever again… and you most definitely will not be seeing him again.”

“Wake up, Shaun, we are not living in the middle ages. Us getting married does not mean you can control me. I will be friends who whoever I wanna be friends with, simple as that. You know what… the more you tell me not to, the more I want to. You never know, I just might ask Chris to move in for a lot longer.”

With a cocky smirk, Emma turned her back on Shaun, thinking this conversation was over. She was just a step outside her bedroom when Shaun ran round the room, skidding in front of Emma and blocking her path.

“No, that is not how it will be. Your wedding vows say obey, and that is what you will do. Obey me. In this case, that means that once you’re with me, you never… see Chris… again,” Shaun gritted between his teeth, gripping Emma’s chin hard between his forefinger and thumb, keeping her eyes locked on his. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Knock it off, Shaun,” Emma said, forcefully brushing Shaun’s hand from her face, trying her best to stop her voice from shaking in fear. “What ends is this behaviour. This isn’t you, and I’m not gonna stand for it.”

Again, Emma tried to make a move into the bedroom. She didn’t even manage to move a step though before Shaun was on her again, this time more forceful than just grabbing her chin. Taking a firm hold on her arms, Shaun slammed Emma hard into the wall beside the bedroom, Emma’s eyes opening wide in real fear as Shaun’s angry face edged closer to inches from her face.

“I really don’t think you understand, sweetheart,” Shaun said, that eerie calm tone back in his voice. “Once we’re married, you’re mine. I own you, far and square. So when I say you won’t see Chris again, you don’t see Chris again. No discussion, it just happens, ok. But for now, until that day… let’s talk about Chris.”

In a move so fast Emma practically missed it, Shaun’s hand fisted in Emma’s hair, making her cry out in pain as he pulled her head back.

“Or more specifically, let’s talk about you and Chris, and what I saw last night.”


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little pre-warning for this chapter. This chapter includes a scene that portrays physical abuse in a relationship. Though it is only one, short scene, anyone who has problems with reading those scenes, you may want to avoid the second scene between the roses! Knowing the character of Shaun, I guess a lot of you could figure this was coming eventually!

“How many times do I have to say no, Chris,” Paige seethed through gritted teeth. “If it helps, I can give it a go in some different languages. French, non. Portuguese, nao. German….”

“Alright, I get the point,” Chris droned out, trailing behind Paige as they made their way towards P3. “I may have been a little… enthusiastic lately about you guys demon hunting. But couldn’t you guys just….”

“For God’s sake, Chris, will you just….” Paige began, trailing off as they entered the club to find the lights were already switched on.

Ever the gentleman he had been brought up to be, Chris stepped in front of Paige as they cautiously made their way down the stairs, prepared for what they might find below. So far, there was no sign of any kind of immediate danger. No one jumping out at them, no broken or misplaced furniture, and no lurking demons. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found the cause of the illuminated club.

“Emma?” Chris said, leaving cautious behind as he raced the rest of the way to her. Emma was sat curled against the door to the back room, the room Chris had once slept in.

Her knees were pulled up to her chest her arms wrapped round them, letting Chris see the suspiciously finger like bruises circling each of her arms. The shirt of the pyjamas she was wearing was ripped, one lacy sleeve completely gone and a big tear down the front. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, mascara streaks mixing with her red and swollen cheek, the opposite eye already beginning to blacken.

“Emma, what happened?” Chris asked softly, kneeling at her side. Emma didn’t reply, she simply hugged her knees tighter to her body. “Please, Em, babe… you have to talk to me,” Chris tried again, gently stroking Emma’s hair behind her ear.

This time in response, Emma slowly edged herself closer to Chris, laying her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt tightly between her fingers as she began sobbing gently again. Still, she said nothing. Chris looked up at Paige for help, unsure what to do himself. Paige knelt in front of the pair, resting her hand softly against Emma’s shoulder.

“Emma, sweetheart, you need to speak to us, tell us what happened,” Paige spoke softly, calmly, as if speaking to a young child. “Was it a demon who attacked you?” Emma didn’t speak, but she did respond. She shook her head against Chris’ shoulder, not lifting her head.

“Was it someone who broke into here, did you walk in on a robber?” Paige asked. Again, Emma shook her head into Chris’ body. “So what happened, Emma? Who did this to you?”

And the, Emma spoke for the first time. One single, solitary word, her voice barely above a whisper. One word that had Chris wrapping her up into his arms tighter.

“Shaun.”

@~~>~~~

“Shaun, you’re… you’re hurting me,” Emma wept slightly, her hands tugging at his as she tried to pull them away from her hair, to no avail.

“You don’t know hurt,” Shaun growled at her. Guiding her forcefully by her hair, making Emma cry out in pain, Shaun threw her down onto the couch before he started pacing n front of her.

“Do you know what’s really hurtful?” Shaun began to snap out, and Emma felt herself cowering back against the couch in true fear. “What really hurts is having your fiancé, the woman who is supposed to love you unconditionally, bring another man into your home. A man she flaunts in front of you, openly showing him more affection then she ever has shown you.”

“Shaun, I’ve never….”

“Don’t lie to me!” Shaun screamed into her face, moving faster than Emma thought was physically possible, towering over her with his arms either side of her head. “Whatever is about to come out of your mouth is nothing but a lie!”

“It isn’t, I swear, I….”

“I saw you!” Shaun continued to scream. “I woke up last night to find that you weren’t there. I come looking for you, and you know what I found. I found you, on this couch, curled in his arms!”

“It’s not what you think!” Emma tried to plead with him.

“Not what I think? Not what… how can it be anything else!” Shaun yelled out louder than ever, hauling Emma off of the couch and slamming her against the wall. His fingers dug harshly into her arms, making her wince as they clearly left bruises.

“Me and Chris… we’re just… just friends,” Emma stammered, hr terror at this situation growing higher. “You know that… Shaun.”

“No, I don’t know that at all,” Shaun hissed at her, his face edging ever closer to hers. “I’ve told you, Chris feels a lot more than friendship for you… and don’t try to tell me he doesn’t. I’ve been watching him while he’s here, I’ve seen the signs clear as day.”

“If you think that’s the case then… then fine,” Emma stuttered. “But I don’t….”

“Do not even try and tell me all you feel for him is friendship,” Shaun interrupted her. “I’ve been watching you as well. Since he got here, you’ve been all glowy in a way I’ve never seen. Who knew the woman I was marrying was nothing but a filthy, little whore, giving it out to anyone but the man you’re marrying, who you say you’re in love with.”

The word ‘whore’, and Emma’s terror faded into anger very quickly. Even if she thought that things between her and Chris had been changing lately, it wasn’t like she did anything about it, like she spent every night wrapped between the sheets with Chris while still in a relationship with Shaun. She wasn’t that type of girl, and she was offended that Shaun seemed to think she was.

“You don’t know a thing you’re talking about,” Emma screamed back at Shaun, fighting harder against his hold. “Just because Chris doesn’t have the emotional capacity of a turnip, like you, it doesn’t mean every little thing we do is somehow seedy. So don’t ever call me a whore again. You don’t have the right to….”

Emma’s sentence was cut off as a powerful burst of pain flowered over her right cheek. Shaun had again moved too quick for Emma to stop him, backhanding her savishly across the face. The blow had hit with such force, her face was forced to the side, her other cheek hitting the wall, hard. The pressure Emma felt against her eye socket told her she would end up with a black eye.

“Don’t tell me I don’t have the right,” Shaun hissed. “You are my fiancé, you are mine to do with as I please… and I think you need to start learning that.”

Dragging her round the room again, Shaun gripped Emma by the shoulder, throwing her back onto the couch. Emma heard a ripping sound, and she turned her head to see one of her short lacy sleeves missing. Looking down, she saw it lying discarded on the floor.

Emma tried to sit up, but suddenly it wasn’t just her on the couch. Shaun jumped up onto the couch with her, her legs pinning her to the couch as he straddled her hips. Her terror firmly back in place, Emma fought against him harder than she had before as his hands pulled at her clothes. She heard another rip, but she didn’t care what it was this time. All she wanted was Shaun off of her, but it seemed he was stronger, and more determined. He wasn’t budging.

“Shaun… no… please, just… just get off me!” Emma cried out in sheer desperation.

What happened next… Emma didn’t know who was more shocked, her or Shaun. Without any extra force from her, Shaun suddenly went flying off of her and across the room, slumping to the floor against the wall, unconscious.

Emma lay still for a moment, catching her shocked, staggering breath before she scrambled off the couch. Grabbing her shoes on her dash out of the door, Emma an. Out of her apartment, down the stairs, out of the building… she didn’t really care where she ended up, as long as she was away from here.

@~~>~~~

Chris pulled the sheets over Emma’s sleeping form, tucking it round her body as if he was tucking in a small child for the night. And though she may have been a full grown woman, tonight she was as fragile as a child… and he planned to take care of her.

For a moment, Chris remained sat on the edge of the bed, watching Emma as she slept soundly. She had calmed once Chris had brought her here, as if her body knew she was in a safe place, where no one would dream of ever harming her.

At that thought, Chris gently reached out to touch the evidence of where someone had dared harm her, and more. At his touch, Emma snuggled deeper into the mattress, nuzzling her face into his hand with a soft smile on her lips. In her relaxed state, Emma’s mind was content, truly at peace wrapped up in the sheets of his bed.

Knowing that Emma was relaxed, peacefully sleeping now, Chris stood, kissing her forehead before making his way downstairs and into the living room where the sisters were waiting. On orbing in, the first place Chris had gone to was his room with Emma. He had left Paige to explain the situation to Piper and Phoebe.

“How is she?” Phoebe asked the minute she saw Chris enter the room.

“She’s alright… I hope,” Chris sighed, flopping down onto the nearest chair. “She’s sleeping right now.”

“Chris, is… we got the story off Paige,” Piper began. “And I was just… I mean… Shaun, he hasn’t done anything like this to her before, has he?”

“God, I hope not,” Paige piped up.

“Emma’s a smart girl,” Phoebe added. “She wouldn’t stand for anything like that, not for so long. She would have come to one of us… like she did now with Chris.”

“Phoebe’s right, she never would have stood for it,” Chris said.

“Yes, but I always thought she was smart enough to steer clear of an abusive guy like Shaun, not get engaged to him,” Piper said.

“I don’t think he was always like this,” Chris stated. “Shaun may not be the nicest guy in the world, I may at times have thought he didn’t deserve someone like Emma, but I never for once thought his jealousy would take him this far.”

“Jealousy? Jealous of what?” Paige asked.

“Of me and Emma,” Chris answered. “No matter how many times Emma tried to tell him otherwise, Shaun had it stuck in his head that there was more than friendship between me and her.”

At this admittance, unseen by Chris, the sisters shared a knowing look between them. Because all three of them had seen Chris and Emma when they were together, and they couldn’t help but think that maybe Shaun really had been seeing the same thing.

Before anything could be said about this, the group heard a soft thud from above them. Without a second glance back at the sisters, Chris was out of his seat and racing up the stairs before it even occurred to him it might be quicker to orb.

Running into his room, Chris found a pile of blankets writhing on the floor. Kneeling beside it, Chris pulled at the blankets until Emma’s head popped out looking somewhere between shocked and scared for a moment, before she saw it was Chris.

“Are you OK?” Chris asked, softly touching her shoulder.

“Yeah… I just… a nightmare, I guess,” Emma said, trying and failing to hold back tears. “I’m sorry, I didn’t….”

“No sorry’s, but let’s get you off the floor, OK,” Chris said, helping to unwrap Emma from within the sheets. Guiding her to sit on the bed, Chris took her by the arms. It was only when Emma winced that he realised he had hold of her over her bruises. “I’m sorry,” Chris said, immediately letting her go.

“No sorry’s. Your words, remember,” Emma said.

Chris laughed softly as he took a seat beside her on the bed. The minute he was down, Emma slid closer into his side, letting her head drop down onto his shoulder. As always, on instinct, Chris’ arm went round her.

“Well, when Leo gets back from the Underworld, we’ll get him to heal you,” Chris told her.

“That’s not necessary, Chris,” Emma said.

“Yes it is. What’s the point of having a Whitelighter healer in the family if you don’t use him for times like this.”

This time, it was Emma who laughed softly. She pulled her legs up under her on the bed, curling up further into herself and into Chris. And for a moment, that was how they remained, in comfortable silence. It was Emma’s small voice that broke the silence.

“He wasn’t always like that you know,” she said.

“I can’t imagine you would stay with him if he was,” Chris said, his voice monotone.

“He was a good guy,” Emma continued. “I might have once told you I wasn’t sure if I should be with him, but I do still think he’s at heart a decent man who will make a loving husband to the right girl.”

“Emma,” Chris spoke her name, trying to keep his voice calm as he pulled back slightly to look at her. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re going back to Shaun?”

“Good God, no!” Emma said, truly shocked at the idea.

“Well, thank the Lord for that,” Chris said, pulling her back into his side.

“No, someone only does this to me once,” Emma said, her voice more adamant now. “All I was getting at was that… maybe I get Shaun’s motivation.”

“You’re saying that you understand why the man who claims to love you decided to take a swipe at your face,” Chris said in disbelief.

“OK, when you put it like that….” Emma trailed off. “But… all I’m saying is look at us, Chris. Anyone looking at this right now sees something a lot more intimate than a friendship.”

“And… does that bother you?” Chris asked, ready to let her go if she said yes.

“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Emma stated. “But I do see what an outsider, like a partner, would see.”

“Come on, Em. We know we’re just….”

“Don’t say it, Chris. Just don’t say it.”

So he didn’t. Chris didn’t finish that sentence, he just let them fall back into silence. This silence wasn’t like before. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was just… different. It was as if the pair curled together on the bed could literally feel things beginning to change between them.

After a moment, Chris heard Emma sigh softly into his neck at the same time her arm seemed to unconsciously wrap itself round his waist. Looking down, he saw that Emma was beginning to fall asleep. Trying not to disturb her, Chris awkwardly manoeuvred them so Emma was lay back comfortably against the pillows. He tried to pull back, but Emma’s arm tightened slightly round his waist.

“Stay… please,” Emma’s voice mumbled sleepily.

For a moment, Chris thought about making some excuse and leaving her to sleep comfortably, alone. But at this moment in time, with her just so uncharacteristically vulnerable, he just couldn’t deny this girl anything she asked.

So he lay down beside her, pulling the sheets over them. The minute he was down, Emma pulled herself even closer to Chris, pillowing her head against his chest and snuggling into his side. By now, Chris was simply going with it as he wrapped his arms tightly round her, one thing on his mind as he drifted asleep beside her.

Let the changes come.


	6. Chapter Six

Chris slowly woke, stretching his tired muscles back to the land of the living… and realised his arms were empty. Opening his eyes, he found that the other side of the bed was empty as well. Last night, he had gone to sleep with Emma curled at his side, now he as alone.

Swinging his legs off the side of the bed, Chris padded his way downstairs in search of the girl. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Chris heard the sound of melodical humming coming from the kitchen that did not sound like anyone from the family. Following the sound, Chris stepped into the kitchen to find Emma dancing round the counters with her back to him, making breakfast and wearing, of all things, one of his shirts.

Leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, Chris watched Emma for a moment. Cooking in his kitchen, humming and clearly in a good mood, wearing one of his shirts… this wasn’t a bad way to wake up. Before that thought could escalate further, Chris cleared his throat, Emma turning as he caught her attention.

“Oh, good morning,” Emma said with a soft smile. Chris could see that all her physical signs of abuse from yesterday were gone, so he figured she had seen Leo at some point.

“Yeah, good morning,” Chris replied, giving her a playful once over with a smile to match. Emma followed his gaze down her body, blushing slightly.

“Yeah… about the shirt….” Emma began. “I didn’t have anything else to wear. The pyjama’s I came in were… ruined, so I didn’t think you’d mind too much if I borrowed this to… cover up.”

“No, it’s OK,” Chris said, taking a seat on a stool at the centre island and smiling cheekily at Emma. “I don’t mind one little bit.” Again, Emma blushed, turning to set up the breakfast plates in front of her.

“Anyway, you came down just in time,” Emma said, clearing her throat and bringing two plates piled with chocolate chip pancakes to him, sitting besides Chris. “I made breakfast.”

“You know, you’re in a house with a woman who could have been a professional chef and her son who, if I do say so myself, is a pretty good cook,” Chris said, making Emma laugh softly. “You didn’t need to do this.”

“Well, let’s just call it the first of many thank you’s, shall we.”

“Thank you for what?”

“For many different reasons, Chris.”

And Chris left it at that. Nothing more was said, he just dug into his thank you breakfast. He had never actually tried Emma’s cooking, but if these pancakes were anything to go on, she was quite a good little cook. After a bit too long of the eating in silence for Chris’ liking, he looked up to find Emma staring down at her plate, stabbing at the piece of pancake she had dismembered but not eaten.

“What’s wrong, Emma?” Chris asked.

“What… nothing, I’m fine,” Emma said, shaking herself out of her trance and looking up.

“Sure, because you always pick at your food like that,” Chris said, Emma smiling somewhat unconvincingly at him. “I know you Em, so why don’t you just tell me what’s bugging you.” Emma let out a soft sigh before she revealed all.

“I was just thinking about yesterday… and not the part you think I would be,” Emma said, cutting off Chris’ next sentence before he started it. “I was thinking about… about the way I got Shaun off of me. I’m a psychic Chris, I don’t have an active power… but that’s what I imagine it feels like.”

“What do you mean?” Chris asked.

“I remember… I remember I was scared, terrified even,” Emma started, trying not to think too hard on every event from yesterday for fear that the tears would come again. “All I wanted was Shaun off of me. Then I feel this… surge through my body, and the next thing I know, Shaun is half way across the room. Even if my so called powers were growing, they can’t exactly grow to that, can they?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to find out,” another voice joined the conversation. The pair turned to see Leo in the doorway.

Leo took an overview of the scene in front of him. His adult son and his ‘best friend’ were having breakfast together, Emma wearing what he recognised as one of Chris’ shirts, while it appeared Chris was still wearing yesterday clothes, crumpled and creased.

His gaze falling on Emma, Leo noticed she had been watching him as well. She averted her gaze, but not before Leo saw that look in her eyes that said she hoped he didn’t get the wrong impression. Leo had to keep a smile off his face as he took a seat with them. It seemed the pair themselves were the only ones who couldn’t see where their ‘friendship’ was going.

“When Piper told me what happened and she got to the part about your display of powers, I was curious as well,” Leo began to explain. “Which is what had me talking with the Elders this morning.”

“What did they say?” Chris asked.

“Well… I guess… it’s sort of the literal version of a psychic hit,” Leo said, receiving a matching set of confused looks from Chris and Emma. “You know, Phoebe would be better at explaining this, but I’ll try. This new power is an extension of your psychic ability, sort of like using your mental capacity in a very physical way. At the moment, like with any other developing power, it is controlled by your emotions, which is why it showed up in such a situation. You can learn to control this like any other power though.”

“So, if I learn how to control this, I could end up with a power something like telekinesis?” Emma asked.

“Basically… yes,” Leo said.

“Wow, an actual, active power could be useful,” Emma said, finally taking a bite out of her now cold breakfast.

“I’ll speak to Aunt Phoebe then,” Chris said. “A fellow psychic could help you with your control.”

“Thanks, that could be fun,” Emma said with a soft smile at Chris.

Any further conversation was cut off by a heavy, persistent knocking on the front door. Leo got up to answer it immediately, not seeing the way Emma’s body tensed. Chris did notice however, and he figured he knew why. Scooting his stool closer to Emma, Chris wrapped his arm round her shoulders, pulling her into his side to place a comforting kiss against the top of her head. He smiled softly as she leant her head against his shoulder, relaxing into him.

They could have stayed like that for longer, all morning even, but they were interrupted by a booming voice.

“Yeah, well, I know you’ve got her in there!”

The pair in the kitchen recognised that angry voice, immediately jumping to their feet as it was accompanied by heavy footfalls heading their way, Leo’s distressed voice trailing after them. Seconds later, Shaun’s figure loomed in the doorway, glaring down at Chris and Emma.

“How sweet, you’re already wearing lover boy’s clothes,” Shaun glowered at Emma.

Emma tried to stand her ground under his piercing, hate filled gaze, she really did, but she found herself shrinking back, her breathing picking up. If Chris hadn’t been mere inches away from her, she would have collapsed altogether.

“How did you find me… find this place?” Emma asked, trying to keep her voice stronger than her will.

“A man always knows where to find his way ward fiancé,” Shaun answered, smirking evilly at Emma.

“Either that, or the paranoid bastard has been following you,” Chris gritted out through his teeth, causing Shaun to flip his glare to him.

“So you would be the infamous Shaun. If you’d have given your name, you wouldn’t have had the chance to get past the front door,” Leo said, stepping up to the other side of Emma to add his support. If fear hadn’t been the overriding emotion in her mind right now, Emma would have smiled at these wonderfully protective men beside her.

“No, then I wouldn’t have this chance to kick his pathetic arse out myself,” Chris said with this odd sense of glee in his voice.

“Don’t threaten me, kid,” Shaun said aggressively. “I could snap you like a twig.”

At this, Leo’s Elder pacifist nature went out of the window as he took a step toward Shaun, ready to take the man down for threatening his son. Before he could move too far forward, Emma stuck her hand out to stop him. No one she cared about was getting hurt in her place.

“You don’t threaten him, Shaun,” Emma said, suddenly finding her courage. “All this is between you and me, it has nothing to do with Chris.”

“He became part of this the minute you started up your little thing with him, the minute you brought him into our apartment,” Shaun said.

“My apartment,” Emma practically spat at him. “That is my apartment that I just happened to let you move into.”

“There was no let me, Sweetie,” Shaun drawled. “You wanted me there, you love me.”

“Loved. Past tense. How do you expect me to ever love a guy like you now.”

“I’m not having this conversation with you here. We’ll finish this conversation at our apartment.”

“No, I am not going anywhere with you.”

“Oh yes, you are.”

Shaun took a step forward, moving as if to take Emma’s arm. As he did, Chris took his own step forward, moving to take a protective stance in front of Emma, his glare just as deadly as Shaun’s.

“I don’t think so,” Chris ground out. “If she says she’s not going with you, she’s not going with you.”

“I’m getting just a bit sick of you, mate,” Shaun said. “If I say she’s coming with me, then she’s coming with me.”

“You want her, you’re gonna have to come through me, mate,” Chris said.

“Fine by me,” Shaun replied.

Too quick for anyone to stop, Shaun launched forward at Chris. As he saw the move, Chris gently pushed Emma out of the line of fire, not having time to block or defend himself as Shaun punched him across the jaw, tackling him back against the centre island, Emma letting out an immediate scream in shock.

After that initial shock had worn off for Emma and Leo, both of them surged forward towards the fighting pair, Emma in front. She grabbed onto Shaun, trying to pull him off of Chris as he continued to hit him, not giving Chris the chance to defend himself.

She didn’t get him off for long, though. Shaun simply swiped his arm backwards, smacking Emma hard across the face with his forearm and sending her tumbling back into Leo. She did, however, manage to distract Shaun long enough for Chris to gain the upper hand.

The commotion brought the sisters staggering into the kitchen, woken earlier than any of the liked. Right now, that didn’t really register with Emma. All she felt was anger as she pulled herself to her feet.

“Let him go!” Emma screamed at Shaun.

Like the previous day, Emma’s emotions gathered together in one big psychic blast. This time, Emma felt it. She felt that one overriding emotion build up and up inside her until her body couldn’t hold it anymore, and it escaped her in a powerful blast. That blast rocketed forward into Shaun, knocking him away from Chris and into the lower kitchen cabinets, hard.

Silence fell over the kitchen, Emma’s staggered breathes all that could be heard. Everyone simply stood watching as a dazed Shaun grunted and groaned his way to his feet, looking round at all the eyes watching him. And Emma saw something in his eyes she had never seen before. She saw fear.

“What the hell is going on?” Shaun said. “How did you… how….”

“I told you to let him go,” Emma replied confidently.

“That’s not what I asked you,” Shaun said, his enraged confidence coming back into his voice.

“Correct, but I don’t have to answer you,” Emma said.

“Yes you do!” Shaun yelled back at her. “And while you’re at it, you can tell me how you don’t have a single scratch on you when I know you did yesterday.”

“Well, I’m gonna have another nice, new bruise from you very soon, aren’t I,” Emma said, touching her hand to her already aching cheek. “I suggest you leave before you end up in one of the other cabinets.”

“There is something very wrong going on here, and there is something very wrong with you,” Shaun said, pointing at Emma. “And you better believe I will get to the bottom of this. This isn’t over.”

“Yes… it is.”

Again, Shaun made the idiotic move of stepping towards Emma in a room full of people who cared about her. So before he could get anywhere near her, Leo stepped up to him, forcibly pushing him out of the kitchen. Shaun tried to fight back against him, but in this instance, Leo was the stronger one. They could hear Shaun’s argumentative voice all the way to the door.

With Shaun gone from the room, Emma could give in. She had expanded all her energy with her psychic blast at Shaun, done everything to stay string in front of him, but now she just wanted to collapse. So as her knees gave way under her, Emma found strong arms holding her steady. She didn’t have to look up to know it was Chris, and she relaxed against him.

“I guess that psychic thing takes it out of me,” Emma muttered softly.

“Well, that’s an interesting way to wake up,” Paige said as Chris moved Emma to sit on one of the chairs round the island.

“I’d say it was pretty normal for this family,” Phoebe replied.

“So, that was the psychic hit thing you told us about the other day?” Piper asked softly, stepping in front of Emma.

“Yeah, it’s exactly the same as what happened yesterday,” Emma told her.

“Well, looks like you have yourself an active power there girl,” Paige said, moving to wrap her arm round Emma’s shoulder, making her smile.

“Leo said you might be able to help her Phoebe,” Chris said to his aunt. “You know, having a psychic power yourself and all.”

“Yeah, of course I will,” Phoebe said, also moving to stand beside Emma, talking directly to her now. “When do you wanna start?”

“The sooner the better,” Emma replied to her. “I really wanna get a handle on this power, stop things like that happening again when I get annoyed or upset.”

“How about we give your body a chance to rest first,” Chris said to her with a soft smile, gently running a hand through her hair.

“Yeah, that might be a good idea,” Emma said, rubbing her cheek where Shaun had hit her.

She imagined that it was already bright red, maybe even already starting to bruise. It had to be, considering that the pain was not only in her cheek, but radiating through hr whole head. She wasn’t about to show any of the sisters or Chris her pain though. She wasn’t in the mood to be fussed over right now.

“Here, let me fix that for you,” Leo said as he walked back into the kitchen, seeing Emma touching her cheek.

“No, thank you,” Emma said, stopping Leo as he reached out for her. “Shaun was right in one thing he said, there isn’t a scratch on me. If I chose to go to the police, I think it will be just a bit more believable if I actually look like I’ve been attacked.”

“Oh honey, you don’t need to worry about that,” Phoebe said, switching positions to hug Emma round the neck from behind. “Power training in this family… that won’t be the only bruise you get.”

Emma laughed, smiling softly at Phoebe’s choice of words. Family. It had been quite a while since she had truly had one she could call her own. But sat here amongst Halliwell’s, she actually felt like she could use that word again.

@~~>~~~

Shaun picked himself up from where that man had basically thrown him down the porch steps, dusting himself off and checking for any kind of marks. Unfortunately, there were none, and he didn’t think there was anyone around right now to be a witness. For once, in a neighbourhood like this, there were no twitching curtains or nosy neighbours.

While he would never admit it, his mission to retrieve Emma had just become a lot more difficult. If it was just Chris he had to deal with, there was no doubt in his mind he would have been able to knock the little brat out and drag his woman out there, kicking and screaming if he had to. But it wasn’t just Chris now, it was also that man and the three other woman. She seemed to have surrounded herself with people who won fight for her.

Ridiculous woman, ruining his plans. He should just turn away now, call it a bad deal and find himself someone else. There were plenty of women so much hotter than Emma, and it wouldn’t take more than a click of his fingers to have them jumping in bed with him. But it was the principle of it all. He dumped women, they didn’t walk away from him. And especially not for wimpy looking things that that Chris she seemed to be draped all over now.

There was also the fact of… whatever else seemed to be going on it that house. Like how the hell he had been pulled from Chris, seemingly by Emma. She had been nowhere near him, he knew that. He’d pushed her away, ready to strangle that kid’s neck. Yet somehow, he had been thrown across the room with such force, a lot more than Emma or even that other man could manage to muster up. So how in God’s name had it happened?

“Good evening.”

Shaun stopped, inches from his car, as his path was blocked by a new man. He looked like… well, a lot like a TV villain really. Dressed all in black, he towered over Shaun, shoulder length dirty blonde hair and sporting your typical bad guy goatee.

“Who the hell are you?” Shaun snapped out.

“Someone who can, and will, help you with your little problem,” Wyatt told him.


	7. Chapter Seven

THUMP!

Phoebe flew back against the, thankfully, padded basement walls. Shaking it off quickly, she looked up to see a rather smug looking Emma standing above her, arms crossed under her chest and smirking at her.

“I do believe I’m getting the hang of this power,” Emma said, her voice just as smug.

“I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you, Sweetie,” Phoebe said, pushing herself up to her feet.

“Oh, come on Pheebs,” Emma said, her smug exterior gone as she dropped her arms and smiled playfully this time, practically bouncing on the spot like an excited child. “After weeks of you guys having to piss me off to get a reaction, of me ending up on my ass where you are now, I finally did it. I controlled my emotions and used my power without having to be really annoyed. I do think I deserve to be a little smug.”

“One hit out of what… hundreds, does not mean you have perfect control,” Phoebe reminded her. Emma, in response, simply smiled, a third different smile. This smile was mischievous, a true up-to-something smile.

Phoebe watched as Emma’s body tensed slightly. It was a small movement, a twitch almost. Something that no one else would see, but one of the things that Phoebe had trained herself to watch for over the years, especially when it came to fights. She knew that Emma was getting ready to try her new found skills again, and she was ready for it.

As Emma let out her power surge, aiming it at Phoebe again, Phoebe pulled up her own powers, using her abilities as an empath to knock Emma’s power back onto her. The knock caught Emma off guard, sending her crashing back into the opposite wall. Phoebe simply strolled over to Emma, kneeling so she was eye level as Emma sat herself up.

“Plus, we haven’t even begun to go over defensive manoeuvres yet,” Phoebe continued, holding out her hand to help Emma to her feet. “That, though, we can leave for another day. Today’s lesson is over, we can both use the rest.”

Emma nodded in agreement, following Phoebe up the stairs and into the kitchen. As they walked up, Chris walked in from the other room, seemingly at a quick pace. He looked them both over, his eyes falling on Emma a little longer.

“I know I’m getting used to the crashes lately, but that last one was a little louder than normal,” Chris said.

“It’s all good, Chris,” Phoebe tried to placate him. “Just putting the smug little beginner in her place!”

Phoebe looked over at Emma with what could only be described as a sweet smirk, letting her she meant it as a joke. Phoebe loved Emma like part of the family, the same as all of them did, and she was actually really proud of the progress she had made. And Emma… well, the hit on the ass made Emma realise that Phoebe was right, she might have been getting a bit cocky.

“Yeah… I ended up on the unpadded side of the room,” Emma clarified, rubbing a kink out of her shoulder.

“What!” Chris exclaimed, moving closer to Emma while glaring at Phoebe. “You couldn’t find a less painful way to teach her a lesson!”

“Chris, I’m fine, honestly,” Emma assured him with a soft, sweet smile. “Nothing a nice, relaxing bath won’t fix.”

Phoebe stood back and watched them with her own smile, her presence now forgotten. The pair’s attention was focused on each other. Chris was well and truly in Emma’s personal space, checking her over for unseen marks or injuries. Emma was watching him, her lips curving up slightly as she tried not to show her appreciation for Chris’, clearly wanted, extra attention. Like the rest of the Halliwell family, Phoebe was just waiting for the day when Chris and Emma finally admitted to themselves, and each other, what it was clear as day for everyone else to see.

“Phoebe, you in hearing range?” Piper’s voice called from the hall.

“Yep, coming!” Phoebe yelled back, leaving Chris and Emma alone in the kitchen.

“Seriously Chris, there is nothing wrong with me,” Emma said, drawing his attention up to her face. “Demons have hurt me ten times more than a little sparring sessions with Phoebe ever could.”

“Well excuse me if I’m a little worried about the damage a simple concrete wall can do!” Chris bit out, turning to move away from her, annoyed that once again, someone was throwing away his concerns. But Emma’s hand shot out to stop him, curling against his cheek.

“Oh Chris… you have no idea how much I appreciate your concern,” Emma said, reading his mind as always. “But I also need you, above anyone else, to realise that I can take care of myself… and anyone else I might care about.” A sigh rolled past Chris’ lips as her words had the desired effect of calming him down. He lowered his gaze, not realising as his head seemed to unconsciously nuzzle into Emma’s touch.

“Chris!” Phoebe’s voice called from the hall. Lifting his head back up, Chris smiled softly at Emma as he removed her hand, following Phoebe’s voice. Of course, Emma was close behind him.

“Hey,” Phoebe continued when they walked into view. “We think we have a lock on those demons that have been roaming about the past week. You gonna tag along?”

“Of course,” Chris said with his happy little smile that only came out at the prospect of killing things. Usually that would be creepy, but with Chris, they all knew it just came from his need to save Wyatt.

“What about me?” Emma said, four pairs of eyes now staring her down.

“Well… that would be a resounding no,” Chris told her.

“What, I don’t even get to argue my point?” Emma said.

“Go ahead, entertain me,” Chris said, crossing his arms and earning himself a glare from Emma.

“Practice,” Emma said simply.

“Really, because I kinda thought that was what your sessions with Phoebe were for.”

“Yeah, and Phoebe is great. But the only problem is I know she would never hurt me. You want me to learn to defend myself, but I’m not gonna learn if you’re too scared to let me get a little hurt. And I’m looking at you when I say that, Chris. Look, we could class this as field experience. What better time than with you four there to look out for me.”

As she finished, Emma realised that she seemed to be getting through to the sisters at least. Their hard stares had softened to thoughtful ones as they clearly considered what Emma had said. Chris, however, wasn’t. His expression hadn’t changed at bit. Still, three out of four gave her a majority.

“She might actually have a point,” Paige said into the silence.

“Are you kidding me!” Chris cried out, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“We’ve all had to do it at one point,” Paige continued. “And it is better her being it there with us instead of going at it alone.” Chris could definitely feel a dig at himself in there, they all could, but he chose to ignore it right now.

“Am I the only one here who seems to be thinking clearly!” Chris continued to argue.

“No Chris, you are the only one not thinking logically… but emotionally,” Piper said, bringing to the surface the elephant in the room that was constantly following Chris and Emma around.

“I can’t believe we’re seriously consid….” Chris began, but Emma had had enough. Stepping in front of Chris, Emma clamped her hand over his mouth.

“Right, I need you to answer me a few questions, honestly, and we can finish this,” Emma told him, and though his eyes glared at her, he didn’t try ad move away from her hand.

“Am I safe with you?” Emma asked first. There was no hesitation in the nod of his head. “Would you ever willingly let me get hurt?” Again, there was no hesitation from Chris, this time in his head shake.

“Then if I know all that… what danger am I in as long as I’m with you?” Emma finished, removing her hand.

Chris wanted to argue, he really did. This was Emma’s safety they were talking about. But what could he actually say to her, rather valid, arguments?

@~~>~~~

Nothing, was the answer to that question. Absolutely nothing.

Without anymore logical arguments to make, that he knew wouldn’t be shot down by Emma and the sisters, Chris had had to admit he was outnumbered, following after the girls if he was going to keep his unanswered promise to Emma. And he planned to do exactly that, sticking close to Emma’s side.

Tracking the demon had this time led them to the Underworld. Paige and Chris had orbed the group to a cave system just outside of where they had sensed the demon was, walking up cautiously to make sure they didn’t jump into any surprises. Emma had a feeling they were doing this just because she was in the group, but she wouldn’t complain. This was her first time, and she knew she was actually lucky that she had persuaded them to let her come at all.

It turned out to be a good job they did take the cautious approach, because the demon wasn’t alone. He was surrounded by a bunch of his buddies, turning their cave into a mini house party. The group of five moved further back from the cave entrance. Back far enough until they were out of earshot.

“I know these might not be the strongest demons, but I still don’t think we can deal with that many in one big group,” Paige pointed out.

“We need to find a way to get the numbers down,” Piper said. Emma, who had been stood quietly in thought, now slowly raised her hand with a guilty look on her face.

“I think I might have an idea, but I don’t think you’ll like it,” Emma said, gaining their attention. “We separate… to separate them.”

“Explain,” Chris asked.

“Look, if they were to hear an out of place noise out here, they wouldn’t all run to inspect it at once,” Emma explained. “Even they aren’t stupid enough to do that. So while one pair leads half the group away, the others deal with the remaining half. That shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Well… that’s not such a bad idea,” Phoebe said after a moment of silence. “I really think we could do this.”

“So, how do we spilt the group?” Paige asked.

@~~>~~~

Quickly and quietly, they worked out certain rules for the divide. Number one, each had an orber, in case of the need for a quick escape. That separated Chris and Paige. Number two was putting someone with the better defensive powers in each. That being Chris and Piper, Piper stuck with Paige while Chris stayed with Phoebe.

The unspoken rule was that Emma stayed with Chris. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

Piper and Paige were the distraction. While Phoebe, Chris and Emma hid in a side alcove, Piper blew up one of the cave walls closest to the demons. Moment later, Piper and Paige flew by the alcove opening in a run, around half the demons chasing after them. Looks like the idea had worked. Not wanting to just run in guns blazing, so to speak, Chris held onto Phoebe and Emma, and orbed into the back of the cave, all the demons left now facing the entrance.

They had all come prepared. The sisters had learnt long ago that it was always best to be prepared, so they stock piled certain potions. And Phoebe, Chris and Emma had their potions, vanquishing the last row of demons and gaining the attention of the others. There was a moments silence for the demons to figure what happened, then all hell broke loose. The demons charged, forcing the three into separate sides of the cave.

Emma didn’t have time to watch or consider what Chris and Phoebe were doing. She just needed to concentrate on what Phoebe had taught her in their training sessions. This was her first time on a real demon hunt. She wasn’t about to let them think she was weak. Channelling her emotions like she had been taught, Emma was able to use her new power to keep the demons back, the potions to finish them off. All in all, she really thought she was doing well.

Chris had been in enough fights in his life to know when it was safe to keep one eye elsewhere. Like now, when he was fighting his demons, while still watching Emma. And she was doing OK. Better than OK. This didn’t look like her first time out. She wasn’t moving like she was scared or nervous. There was confidence in every well placed move.  
Still, she didn’t have eyes in the back of her head… which meant she didn’t see the demon creeping up behind her.

“Emma!” Chris cried out quickly, but not quick enough. The demon behind Emma grabbed her and shoved her into the group of demons in front of her.

Chris immediately tried to rush to her aid, but the last remaining demon he had to vanquish, that he had forgotten about in his worry, wasn’t letting him go. He was pulled back into the fray, and he lost sight of Emma. Fighting harder than he ever had, Chris was able to vanquish and pull away from the demon in moments. But when he looked up, things had gotten worse.

Through the struggle, Emma had managed to kill one of the three demons surrounding her. But that wasn’t enough. As Chris watched, Emma was thrown from between the par, flying the full distance of the cave and hitting the wall. Hard. And stopped moving.

Chris telekinetically threw the two approaching demons far away from Emma, rushing towards her without hesitation. He didn’t even notice, or care, as Phoebe vanquished the last few demons. His focus was 100% on Emma. Skidding to a halt and dropping to his knees beside her, Chris flipped her face up, breathing harshly at what he saw lying in his arms.

One of Emma’s shoulders was dislocated and it was lay at an odd, completely unnatural angle. Her leg was also at the same odd angle, obviously broken. There were four large claw marks across her stomach and a deep gash in her forehead, both of which were bleeding heavily.

But none of that was what really scared Chris. What scared him the most was how still she was lying. She was completely limp, her good arm dragging across the floor. Her eyes were closed, and Chris could just about hear the gentle, barely there sound of her breathing.

Chris again didn’t acknowledge Phoebe as she moved to stand behind him. He simple held Emma closer to him, orbing out of the cave and back into the manor living room.

“Leo. Leo! Dad!!” Chris yelled up to the ceiling, hating the way his voice broke on the last word or the tears gathering behind his eyes.

Blue orbs quickly formed into Leo, worried at the tone in his son’s voice. He opened his mouth to question, closing it instantly. Words weren’t needed. All he needed was the desperate look in Chris’ eyes and the state of the limp girl lying in his arms to have him springing into action, kneeling beside Emma to heal her while Chris begrudgingly stood out of his way, waiting impatiently. More orbs appeared, this time forming into the sisters.

“Christopher, how could you leave….” Piper began, but Phoebe held Piper’s arm to stop her. She understood completely. And the minute they saw the scene in the living room, so did Piper and Paige. “Oh my God, what hap….”

“What’s taking so long?” Chris interrupted his mother, his eyes still glued to Emma and Leo on the floor.

“The injuries were bad, Chris. She… she almost died,” Leo admitted, not wanting to scare Chris, but knowing he needed the truth.

At the words, however, Chris just went weak at the knees, having to lean against the wall for support. While he stood back, trying to catch his breath, the sisters surrounded Emma as her wounds were slowly healed. She woke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright.

“Wow, sweetie, slow down there,” Paige said, steadying Emma by her shoulders, turning it into a hug once she was stable.

“Thank God you’re alright,” Phoebe said, joining the hug.

“Yeah, I’m OK… I think,” Emma said, looking around in confusion at the worried faces staring down at her.

“We almost lost you there,” Piper said with her soft, motherly smile.

“You… I… what?” Emma stammered out.

“You almost died,” Chris’s monotone voice spoke up, causing Emma to look up into green eyes that, instead of holding their usual light, were completely emotionless.

“Chris….” Emma began softly.

“Once again, nobody listens to me, and you almost get yourself killed because of it,” Chris continued, anger creeping into his voice.

“Chris, I….” Emma tried again, standing with Paige’s help.

“I don’t say these things for the fun of it,” Chris interrupted, getting angrier. “I do it for you. I do it so you don’t end up getting thrown around a cave and almost dying!”

“Will you just listen to me?” Emma said, stepping up to Chris.

“Why, you never listen to me! Instead, you let your stubbornness lead you into situations you’re not ready for. As far as magic is concerned, you’re a kid. A stupid, impetuous kid who has no clue what she’s doing!”

“And that’s how it’s going to stay if you keep doing this!”

“Well, I….”

“No, this is my time to speak!” Emma yelled, the pair of them now at the same anger level. Leo and the sisters were keeping out of this. It was their argument, and they needed it. “This overprotective, worrying thing has to stop.”

“That’s not what this is about.”

“It is, and don’t you think I feel the same way every time you go on your many demon hunts.”

“Yeah, but it’s not my first time out every time I leave.”

“You think that matters to me. I still worry. But at the same time, I trust that you can look after yourself. All I’m asking for is that same trust from you.”

“After today, it’s clear you can’t look after yourself.”

“One little mistake, Chris.”

“A mistake that almost cost you your life.”

“And one everyone here has probably made. They don’t get this every time they go out. Do you honestly think that I’m totally incompetent of doing anything without you to look out for me?”

“The way you act, yes I do!”

The room suddenly fell deathly quiet. Leo and the sisters couldn’t say anything as they looked between the pair. The pair who were still breathing heavily and glaring at each other.

“Well, it’s nice to know what you really think of me,” Emma snapped out before storming upstairs. At this moment, Chris could do nothing but stare after her.

“Was any of that really necessary, Chris?” Leo asked him.

“She needs to learn she can’t do everything,” Chris answered, but the conviction had left his voice.

“Maybe if you were a bit more honest about just how much you really care about that girl, she might be more inclined to take these things a little better,” Piper told Chris bluntly.

“I don’t kn….” Chris tried.

“Don’t feed me any bull, Christopher,” Piper butt in. “Apparently, it’s perfectly clear to everyone but the two of you.” Chris said nothing to that, didn’t even try. He just stared at his mother for a moment before orbing out.

“Well, you’ve really given up on subtlety,” Paige said into the second silence.

“We all know that those two won’t do anything without a kick start,” Piper justified herself.

@~~>~~~

FLASHBACK:  
Sat on his cot in the back room of P3, Chris’ moods were completely constricted. He was feeling love for Bianca after not seeing her for so long, betrayal after everything she had done behind his back while he was in the past… and utter grief over her death. And he was so wrapped up in those moods, he didn’t hear the door open or the footsteps walking towards him. He didn’t notice anything until small hands were wrapped around his.

His head snapped up at the sudden touch, wide eyes turning soft as he found Emma knelt in front of him. Her face was holding her usually soft smile and her eyes held his firmly.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said, her already gently voice softer than normal.

“It’s OK, I guess I was just….” Chris trailed off, not sure where to go with that sentence.

“A little lost in the past,” Emma said, moving to sit beside Chris as he slid across to give her room. “Or would that be the future, considering it hasn’t happened… even though it has for you… but then for us… oh, forget. I’m just giving myself a headache.”

Chris actually laughed at that. Here he was, feeling the deep loss of someone he had loved truly and completely, and he had still managed to laugh. Only Emma and her perfect nature could do that for him.

“I don’t think it matters,” Chris said.

“No, it doesn’t,” Emma agreed. “What does matter, what I came here for… is the fact that you’re hurting. I may not have known her, or really like being attacked by her and what she did to you… but you loved her. You loved her, and you lost her, and I can’t even image how much that hurts. So I’m not here to give you some bull about how I know what you’re feeling, or how it will get better with time or something like that, because I don’t know any of that stuff. I’m just here… well, I’m just here. Whatever you want, whatever you need, I’m here.”

Chris didn’t say anything to that. There wasn’t anything to say, because Emma had said it all. As usually, she had done exactly the right thing. And in this one simple moment, the two of them just sat together on that cot, Chris knew now more than ever just how lucky, and grateful, he was to have Emma in his life.  
END FLASHBACK

@~~>~~~

Hours later, Chris finally orbed back to the Manor. He found himself stood in the doorway of the room Emma had claimed for her own, watching her sleep.

He had spent his time away in the back room of P3, alternating between pacing, throwing things across the room, and even once, punching the wall. But all the while he had been thinking, and he had come to one conclusion. His mother was right about his feelings for Emma.

It had always been there, in the back of his mind, but he had never let himself think on it. He couldn’t. She had been with someone, and he wasn’t the kind of guy to steal someone else’s girl. Plus, she was his friend, and he didn’t want to risk losing her, for any reason. Then… there was Bianca. He had spent most of his time here either loving Bianca, or grieving her. There hadn’t been time to think about Emma. Now, she was all he seemed to be able to think about.

They weren’t the only obstacles though. There was, of course, the big one. Timelines. They were the poster children for being from two different worlds. When he had finished his mission and saved Wyatt, he would be going back to his time and Emma would stay here in hers. It was all about the stupid balance. So what was he supposed to do, break his heart and even worse, break Emma’s?

“Am I really that transparent?” Chris said quietly to the presence sneaking up behind him.

“You may not think so, but you wear your heart on your sleeve, Chris,” Piper told him softly.

“So what am I supposed to do, mum?” Chris asked, feeling like a little boy again. Piper smiled. She always loved hearing him call her ‘mum’.

“I can’t answer that one, sweetheart,” Piper answered.

“Big help there,” Chris replied sarcastically.

“Son, I can’t answer that… because you’re the only person who can,” Piper said, leaning up to kiss Chris’ cheek before walking away. Chris listened, but it still didn’t help. No matter what his mother might have said, he still couldn’t answer that one question.

He was in love with his best friend, Emma Nixon… so what was he gonna do about it?


	8. Chapter Eight

Emma sat at the kitchen counter opposite Paige, tapping her pen against the pad she should have been taking notes in. She was supposed to be paying attention to Paige’s potions lesson, but she was a little preoccupied. Her thoughts were, as usual, stuck on Chris.

Ever since the incident last week when she had almost died, Chris had been acting very strangely around her. Whenever she walked into a room, he made some lame excuse to leave, quickly. In a group, he made very little eye contact with her and only spoke directly to her if he had to. And when they did speak, it was all business, never anything personal. If she tried for anything else, he ran.

She didn’t get it. This was totally not like Chris. Since she had known him, they had never spent this long not talking. They were close. Real close. Hell, that was why Shaun was being the way he was. So this now… it was practically killing Emma. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that Chris was the most important person in her life, and she needed him.

“Emma!” Paige’s voice finally broke into her thoughts, making Emma snap her head up. “Finally, I’ve been shouting your name for ages, girl. Are you even listening to me?”

“Erm… yeah… sure, I’m paying complete attention,” Emma said, trying to make her smile anything but guilty.”

“Alright, prove it,” Paige called hr out. “What did I say was the next ingredient to add?”

“Erm….” Emma stammered, looking around at the vast array of ingredient before her. “Poppy seed.”

“Yeah… and you just blew the kitchen off the house,” Paige said. Emma sighed, dropping her head in hands. “Emma, you were the one who wanted to learn about potions.”

“And I still do,” Emma said, lifting her head. “It’s just… I’ve been a little distracted lately.”

“Mm… and that wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain six foot, neurotic nephew of mine, would it?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“When it comes to Chris, yes, you are. What exactly is going on with you two?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know. That… night a week ago. In the morning, Chris apologised for that argument, but that was the last time he really spoke to me. He’s avoiding me, and I don’t know why.”

“That night, you scared him, sweetie. You scared all of us. Seeing you like that… and if you know one thing about Chris, it’s that he’s not very good at dealing with his emotions. Give him time, he’ll come around.”

“How much time? I’m fine, right in front of him. I know Chris can be difficult, but not like this. I have this really awful feeling there’s something else going on.” Paige looked down, fidgeting with the potions ingredients. She couldn’t look more guilty if she tried. “There’s something you ain’t telling me,” Emma accused.

“I-I just think you need to speak to Chris for yourself,” Paige said.

“You don’t think I haven’t been trying all week,” Emma said. “He’s avoiding me like the plague, so I guess you’re gonna have to be my next best option and spill.”

“Look,” Paige began with a deep sigh. “Whatever is going on with you and Chris, it’s something the two of you need to figure out.”

“How?” Emma cried desperately.

“Honey… I really don’t know,” Paige said with a soft smile. “But when you do… oh, you just need to find a way to talk to him. Trust me on that. I’ve got an appointment at the temp office, so we’ll pick up our lesson later. With full concentration please.”

Emma managed a small smile as Paige left the room, but her mind was once again somewhere else. Once again on Chris. And after the way Paige had been speaking, Emma was even more worried than she had been this morning. Now she knew something was definitely wrong, and it seemed everyone but her knew about it.

Emma wasn’t sure how long she actually sat in the same spot, thinking, but some time later she was knocked back to reality by the sound of someone moving around in the conservatory. Looking up at the time, Emma figured the only person it could be roaming around now would be Chris. After all, he should have been back from his appointment at P3 an hour ago. So, now was as good a time as any for this little talk they needed to have.

“Chris, is that you?” Emma called out as she headed towards the footsteps. “Look, this is getting ridiculous. We really need to… talk.” She trailed off as she stepped into the conservatory and saw who was there.

“Sorry, wrong boyfriend,” Shaun’s voice bit out with a smirk. “But it sounds like you two lovebirds might already be in trouble.”

For a moment, Emma couldn’t talk. She was completely frozen in shock… and a little bit of fear. It had been a month since she had last seen him, and part of her had really hoped that she wouldn’t see him again, that he was all talk. But then there was the other part of her, the part that spent so much time training, that knew this day would come.

“How the hell did you get in?” Emma finally spoke up, trying to keep her voice calm. She was alone in the house, which wasn’t helping her fear.

“These Halliwell’s of yours aren’t big on locking their doors,” Shaun said, motioning behind him to the open conservatory doors. “Although, if I was them, I don’t think I’d be too bothered with locks either.”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Emma asked, already in the back of her mind somewhere knowing the answer, but not wanting to think about that outcome.

“Oh, no need to keep up the dumb act, sweetheart. It doesn’t suit you,” Shaun said. “I know all about this family and their freaky little magic powers.”

Emma was stunned into silence yet again. She had never been in this situation. No other person she knew outside of the Halliwell’s had ever witnessed magic. And with all that had happened with him, Emma had no idea if this was a good thing or not.

“Did you really think I wouldn’t figure it out with the way you threw me across the room,” Shaun continued.

“Actually, no, I didn’t think you’d figure it out,” Emma said, gaining a confidence from somewhere. “I didn’t think you had the brain capacity to put two and two together that easily.” Shaun gave Emma a look, one that would have scared her not too long ago, but this time she just continued talking.

“Hell, I don’t even think you’ve figured this out all by yourself this time,” she said. “Even seeing what you did, you probably still needed someone to spell it out for your dumb ass.”

Emma had done it, she had officially pissed Shaun off. He came at her like he had before, but she wasn’t scared this time. And she now decided him knowing about magic was a good thing, because she could openly use hers to push his advancing form back.

“But however you did find out, I don’t really care right now, because you knowing means I can use mine to throw your sorry self out of this house,” Emma said, using her newly controlled powers to again push him back towards the doors.

“I don’t think you want to do that just quite yet,” Shaun said.

“I want you as far away from me as possible, so why the hell not,” Emma yelled at him.

“You could… but then you’ll never know what I do about your precious little lover boy, Christopher,” Shaun said, gritting out Chris’ full name like it was something evil. It did, however, gain Emma’s full attention. “Oh, I’m guessing he’s a little late, then.”

“Speak,” Emma bit out. “Speak fast, and speak sense.”

“Now I think about it… maybe I don’t really wanna tell you where your boy is,” Shaun said.

Emma glared in pure fury at Shaun, thinking maybe now was a good time to try something else she and Phoebe had been working on. After that night, she had figured she wanted a more... aggressive power to protect herself. And Phoebe had taught her how her power might be able to do that. And as she watched Shaun start to double over in pain, she figured it was working.

“There’s something else these ‘freaky little powers’ can do,” Emma gritted out. “Apply enough focus, I can put pressure on anything I want. And right now, I’m focusing on your insides.” Shaun continued to groan in pain while Emma continued to apply her focus.

“Let’s start with what you did to me, shall we,” Emma went on. “Like, for starters, the back hand across my cheek.” Putting her focus on that one spot, Emma watched as the blood vessels beneath his skin popped, leaving a red mark across his cheek similar to the one she had from him.

“Then, of course, there were the pretty little finger mark bruises you left on my arms.” Emma watched as the same thing happened on his arms, leaving those finger mark like bruises. “And then there’s the most important one… when you broke my heart.” Shaun cried out loudly as he fell to his knees, clutching his chest in pain. Emma wouldn’t kill him, that wasn’t who she was. But she wasn’t above causing him a little bit pf pain.

“Stop! Just… stop!” Shaun gasped out, and Emma could hear the fear lacing his voice. “I’ll talk… I’ll talk.” Emma let her hold on him drop, seeing his whole body instantly relax.

“Now you know what I can, and am willing to do, I suggest you talk very quickly,” Emma stated calmly. “Tell me what you know.”

“I know Chris has been taken,” Shaun said between deep breaths. “He spoke to the wrong ‘people’, and now he’s got himself in big trouble.”

“And how do you know this?” Emma asked. “Or more importantly, how do I even know you’re telling the truth?”

“You’ve got two options, sweetie,” Shaun said, getting to his feet. “You can stand here, debate me and my honesty, all the while Chris could be in serious trouble. Or you could take a chance that your boyfriend really is in trouble, and go about trying to save him.”

“I’m gonna go with option two,” Emma said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Now get the hell out, before I change my mind and finish what I started.”

Shaun gave Emma a smug smile before turning to leave. Once he stepped out of the conservatory doors, he paused, and Emma got a little worried about what he was going to try to do next after what she had done. However, he simply turned to look at her again.

“So… I broke your heart, did I,” Shaun said, the smugness in his voice as well.

“Whether you choose to believe me or not, I really did love you,” Emma said, her voice a little softer. “If Chris hadn’t of appeared in my life, we’d be well on our way to being married by now… and I’d have never known about your possessive, angry streak. So you know what? I thank Chris every day for that. I’ll let your imagination take that any way you want.”

Emma slammed the glass doors in Shaun’s face, making sure they were locked this time before storming away. In the living room, she stopped, waiting long enough for Shaun to be gone before doing the only thing she knew right now to find out if what he was saying was true. Because she really hoped he was just being the same arse and messing with her. The alternative wasn’t a good thought.

“Leo!” Emma yelled up at the ceiling. Leo materialised seconds later, but Emma continued speaking before he could say a word. “You need to sense for Chris, tell me where he is.”

“Emma, what do you….”

“Please, Leo,” Emma interrupted him. “I just really need you to tell me where he is right now.”

Leo stared at Emma for a moment, seeing the tears building behind her eyes and hearing the near desperation in her voice. It was that that made him give in, closing his eyes and sensing for the location of his future son. And when he did, he suddenly understood why Emma was so panicked.

“I can’t,” Leo said, snapping his eyes open. “I can’t sense him anywhere. That has to mean he’s….”

“In the Underworld,” Emma finished, collapsing back onto the couch. Chris wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the Underworld today.

Oh, Emma had really hoped that Shaun was wrong.

@~~>~~~

FLASHBACK:  
Staggering with two half full boxes obscuring her vision, Emma pushed the door to P3’s back room open with her foot, slowly backing inside. She stacked the boxes where she needed them, turning back to the door just in time to see twinkling blue orbs forming into a person. And while Emma might have been used to this with the Halliwells, it wasn’t Paige or Leo she now saw stood in front of her. Standing in front of Emma right now was a cute, young brunette she had never seen before. When his green eyes landed on her, they widened in shock along with Emma’s.

“Who the hell are you?” both voices cried out at the same time.

“I asked you first,” the guy said.

“Try again, I think you’ll find we both spoke together,” Emma said.

“I’m not the one who broke into the back room,” the guy said indignantly.

“Don’t need to break in when you have these,” Emma said, pulling a set of keys out of her pocket. “I work in the bar, I was on the late shift. Your turn to explain.”

“I don’t need to… wait,” he said, his eyes going wider, if that was possible. “I just orbed in.”

“Yeah, the pretty blue lights gave that away,” Emma said sarcastically.

“No, I just orbed in… and you seem perfectly fine with that.”

“Oh, that. I know the sisters outside of just working here. I’m a practising witch, no powers, and they saved me from a demon attack.”

“Why are you being so open with me?”

“Hey, I just might be like that for all you know,” Emma said. The guy just gave her a look, so she laughed slightly. “Like you said, you orbed in. Gotta trust someone who orbs. Although, a name might be nice.”

“Chris,” the guy said. “Chris… Perry.”

“Right, the future boy the sisters talk about a lot,” Emma said. “They say some… colourful things about you.”

“I’m sure they do,” Chris said, his voice low, almost distressed. “So, do I get a name on you?”

“I’m Emma Nixon, nice to meet you,” Emma said, holding out her hand while she did a slight, old fashioned bow at the waist. Chris couldn’t help but laugh slightly as he took her offered hand.  
END FLASHBACK

@~~>~~~

“What exactly did Shaun say to you?” Piper asked Emma for what had to be the twentieth time.

When Leo and Emma had figured they couldn’t find Chris themselves, they had of course called the sisters, who were equally worried. However, all they had been doing since was going over and over everything. They still hadn’t found a way to find Chris that didn’t involve them wandering round the Underworld aimlessly and getting themselves killed.

“I’ve told you, numerous times,” Emma said, her head in her hands as she sat on the couch. “No matter how many times I say it, the words aren’t going to change.”

“Well, we’re gonna go over this again,” Piper said. “And again and again if we have to, until I’m satisfied, because this is my son were talking about. My son who could be in danger, real trouble, all because he chose to get involved with you and your pyscho ex.”

“You don’t think I haven’t thought of that!” Emma snapped, losing it finally as she swung her head up. The group could finally see the tears streaming down her face, the utter devastation lurking behind her eyes. And that was when Piper suddenly felt the guilt envelope her for her earlier words.

“Don’t you think that I’ve been here losing my mind wondering where he actually is,” Emma continued, jumping to her feet. “Hell, if Leo hadn’t have literally pinned me down to the couch, I would be in the Underworld right now, scouring the place for Chris. Because yes Piper, I get it. I get that Chris might really be in trouble right now, and it is completely my fault! I get that, and the guilt is already killing me. I don’t need reminding about it!” With that, Emma stormed out of the room and up the stairs, leaving utter silence in her wake.

“Oh God,” Piper finally sat, collapsing down onto the nearest chair behind her. “I didn’t mean to say that. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“We know, Sweetie,” Phoebe said, sitting on the arm of the chair and putting her arm round her older sister. “And I think Emma does, deep down. She’s just worried and upset.”

“We all are,” Paige said, sitting on the other arm beside Piper.

@~~>~~~

FLASHBACK:  
Emma was woken, gasping and shaking, by Chris stood over her, his hands gripping her shoulders. She was slumped to her side on the couch in the attic, where she had fallen asleep while Chris was going over spells. She sat more comfortably, stretching out the crick that was beginning to form in her neck.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep on you,” Emma said softly, still half asleep. “Guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“That’s not why I woke you, Emma,” Chris told her. “I would have been happy for you to sleep a lot longer… had it not been for your thrashing and screaming.”

“What do you mean?” Emma said, avoiding Chris’ eye this time. The biggest clue to Chris that she was trying to hide something from him.

“You were clearly having a nightmare,” Chris said, moving to sit beside her. “Want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Emma said with a humourless laugh, fiddling with the edge of her shirt. “I really don’t remember any of it.”

“Must we go through this every time,” Chris said with a sigh.

“Through what?”

“This bit, where you lie to me, even though you know I can see right through you, then we go back and forth for a bit until you finally give it up. How about we just skip all that and go straight to you telling me so I can try to help.”

For a moment, Emma said nothing. She just continued to stare down at the floor, still pulling at a piece of thread hanging from her top. It was only when the thread snapped that she made a sound, sighing and dropping back more comfortably into the couch, her head against the backrest, her eyes closed.

“It wasn’t exactly a nightmare,” Emma spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, Chis straining to hear every word. “It was… it was more of a memory, from when I was younger.” Emma paused, and Chris could already hear the slight hitch in her voice.

“I-I know I told you that my parents argued a lot towards the end. What I didn’t say, what I tried to forget is… is that sometimes… me and my siblings ended up in the middle of it. I was the oldest, so it fell to me to protect my brother and sister. That just meant I took the brunt of it.”

“Brunt of it?” Chris questioned.

“Not every family is like yours Chris,” Emma said, turning only her head and opening her eyes to look at Chris. “Despite all the problems you think you might have, you were loved. Growing up, you always knew that, you could see it plain as day. I never had that, Chris. All I ever knew growing up was the sound of screaming and nasty fights. All I ever learnt was… was how to dodge. How to move or hold yourself just right so that a slap or a punch wouldn’t hurt so much.”

“Emma….” Chris said, the sorrow and pity evident in his voice as she shuffled closer to her.

“I was never loved, Chris… and a child should never grow up like that,” Emma said, tears leaking from her eyes even as she tried to remain strong. “Maybe that’s why I clung onto Shaun so tightly. He was the first person to ever show me any kind of affection, so I thought that I needed to keep hold of it, the one thing I always wanted. It wasn’t… it wasn’t until you, wasn’t until the sisters, that I actually saw love. The kind of love that I want. I see your parents… God, no matter what you tell me about the future Chris, they are so in love. And I want that. The problem is now… I’m starting to believe I can never get that kind of love… with Shaun.”

“Oh, babe,” Chris said, pulling Emma tightly into his side. “I could have told you that quite a while ago.”

Emma gave out a short bubble of laugh, but in the end it was the tears that won out. They flowed freely as she curled her body into Chris’, wrapping her arms around his waist to snuggle herself more comfortably in his hold. Because the truth was, out of everyone she had ever known in her life, Chris was the only person who could truly make her feel comfortable, feel right.

Feel the way she wanted to feel for the rest of her life.  
END FLASHBACK

@~~>~~~

Piper gently pushed open the bedroom door, trying to be as quiet as possible. Inside, she found Emma curled up on the seat of the bay window, her legs tugged tight under her chin, her arms wrapped round them and her face staring out towards the horizon at the setting sun. With a soft sigh, Piper walked inside and towards Emma, her footfalls quiet enough not to disturb Emma’s deep thoughts.

“Emma,” she spoke gently. “I’m sorry, about what I said down there. You’ve got to know I’m just real worried about Chris.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Emma said, still not looking at Piper, her words spoken in monotone, her voice almost sounding like she had given up. “It doesn’t matter… because you were right. This is all my fault.”

“No, I wasn’t right,” Piper said, her voice holding enough emotion for the both of them as she sat at Emma’s feet. “This is not your fault at all, and I was ridiculous to even think that for a second.” Emma finally turned, slowly, to lock eyes with Piper, her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks stained with tear tracks.

“But it is,” she spoke. “If I hadn’t have been dumb enough to… I got him involved with what was going on between me and Shaun. Shaun blames him, and it’s all because… it’s all because I make it pretty clear how much I… care about Chris. He wants to hurt me, so he hurts Chris. If Chris had just never gotten to know me, never tried to help, he wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Yes,” Piper agreed, leaning forward to place her hands on Emma’s knees. “But all that is Shaun’s fault, not yours. He couldn’t let go when you walked away. And Chris… he would never give you up for anything in this world, sweetheart. You have to know that.” Emma just continued to stare at Piper, not hearing the hidden message in her words.

“Oh, honey, the pair of you really are so oblivious,” Piper said, scooting closer to gently hold Emma’s cheek in a motherly gesture that she had always loved feeling from her. “Anyone in this house could tell you this, Emma. Chris… he’s in love with you, sweetie. It’s been growing for a long time… and it doesn’t take a genius to know his feelings aren’t one sided.”

Emma tried to tilt her head away from Piper’s penetrating gaze, but the hold Piper had on her cheek stopped her. Instead, she settled for simply turning her eyes down instead, focusing anywhere but on Piper right now.

“I am far from blind, Emma,” Piper continued. “And neither is anyone else in this house. It is so clear to us that the two of you are supposed to be together, it the pair of you that are fighting it. And I have no idea why, why you won’t just admit it.”

“I can’t,” Emma said in a low whisper.

“Why not?” Piper asked.

“Because….” Emma began, her tears stuttering her voice. “Because when I say it out loud… it makes it real. And right now, I’m worried enough… guilty enough. My heart can’t take anymore.”

“Oh, honey,” Piper said, pulling the now sobbing girl into her side and holding her tight. “Deep down, you know you already feel it. It’s the reason you feel so worried right now, so guilty for no reason. Your hearts already admitted it, your head just needs to catch up.”

Emma said nothing, she couldn’t. She just continued to cry, her head buried in Piper’s shoulder. Because no matter how right Piper was, it was still so hard to admit. It just made everything so real, and would make her pain ten times worse right now. But maybe Piper was also right about what she said about her heart. She knew, had for a while, just how she felt about Chris. It was getting harder and harder to deny it lately. So why was her head trying so hard to do just that?

“I do,” Emma finally muttered through her tears, Piper pulling her back to look into her eyes. “I do love him. I love Chris.”

“Thank you, Sweetie,” Piper said softly, confusing Emma with her words. She confused her even more when she stood, pulling Emma with her and guiding her back down the stairs into the living room, where Phoebe, Paige and Leo were sat round waiting, looking up when they walked in. “Is the spell ready?” Piper asked her sisters, letting Emma’s hand go and leaving her stood in the archway, getting more confused by the moment.

“Right here,” Phoebe said, handing a piece of paper to Piper, her eyes glancing over at Emma. “So it’s sorted then?”

“Yeah,” Piper said in a somewhat distracted tone as she looked over the paper in her hands.

“Oh, honey!” Phoebe and Paige exclaimed together, both moving to hug the woman, who stood stiffly.

“I don’t… I just… Piper, what’s going on?” Emma asked, extracting herself from the grinning sisters on either side of her.

“Phoebe came up with a spell,” Paige answered for her big sister. “A way for someone to get into the Underworld, exactly where Chris is.”

“All it required was a strong emotional connection,” Phoebe continued. “A kind that is different to that of family love. And there was only one place in this house where we figured we could get that. Only….”

“Only I had to admit it,” Emma finished, looking over at Piper, who was now looking up to meet her eyes, nodding in conformation at her.

“That’s why I had to get you to say it out loud, admit it to yourself,” Piper said. “This wouldn’t have worked if you were still denying how you really felt.” Emma smiled softly, wiping the dried tears from her eyes and looking into the eyes of each smiling person in the room.

“OK, what do you need me to do?”


	9. Chapter Nine

What Emma needed to do simply consisted of concentrating. On Chris. Piper just told her to close her eyes and picture Chris in her mind. So she did. She let all of her favourite moments between herself and Chris flash through her mind like a well watched movie. In the back of her mind, the fact that the sisters were stood close to her chanting barely registered. All she was focused on was Chris.

What her mind did register though was a sharp tugging motion. It felt like someone had wrapped a rope around her waist and gave it a sharp tug, pulling her away from the Manor. So when she opened her eyes, she found that she was no longer stood in the living room. Instead of bright lights, her eyes adjusted to the dull walls of an Underworld cave. Which had to mean the spell had worked, so where was Chris.

Looking around frantically, not wanting to cry out for fear of alerting whoever was holding Chris, Emma’s panic began to grow when she didn’t see him. That was until she saw a very still pair of legs sticking out from behind one of the rocks… then the panic rocketing right up.

Rushing over, Emma couldn’t help the cry that left her lips as she froze at the site in front of her. The legs belonged to Chris, who was lying prone on his back, a darklighter arrow sticking out of his stomach. The blood pool below him let Emma know he had been there for quite some time, shot and simply left right where he lay. They were too late. She was too late. All that messing about, now Chris….

He twitched! It was only a small movement of his eyes, but it was enough to assure Emma he was in fact alive as she rushed to kneel by his side, gently lying his head in her lap.

“Chris,” Emma spoke softly as he groaned. “Chris, its Emma. Come on, please… just open your eyes for me.” Chris did just that, his eyes fluttering open to lock glazed pupils on her face.

“Emma….” Chris said weakly, his eyes fluttering closed against the pain.

“Of course,” Emma said, smiling through her tears. “Did you really think I wouldn’t come and find you, babe?”

“You shouldn’t… have come,” Chris stuttered, though the way he practically nuzzled into her said otherwise.

“Why the hell not?” Emma asked.

“Well… it might have something to do with this being a trap,” another voice echoed against the cave walls. Her head snapping up, Emma’s eyes came into contact with a pair that, while so much like Chris’, were also the complete opposite. While Chris had always looked at her with warmth and, dare she say it… love, the pair now locked with hers glared at her with smug contempt.

“Wyatt,” she breathed out. She should have seen this one coming. They hadn’t heard a thing from him since that day he appeared in the attic.

“Hello there, gorgeous,” Wyatt smirked. “Why don’t you try telling me there’s nothing going on between you and my little brother now, darling.”

Emma said nothing to that. She wasn’t in the mood or the right state of mind to start up a ridiculous argument with Wyatt. Instead, it would be best just to let him speak, let him go off like Chris had told her he could. All she had to do was wait until help arrived in the form of the sisters, like a prize fighter letting his opponent tire himself out. So instead, she just sat where she was, running her hand soothingly through Chris’ hair, his body unconsciously turning into her touches.

“Oh and just how cute is that,” Wyatt mocked, noticing Chris’ slight movements as well. “At least my poor little brother gets to spend his dying moments with his lady love.” Again, Emma tried her hardest not to let him bait her, but it was getting so much more difficult. She felt her breathing quicken as she became more irate.

“I wouldn’t worry too much though,” Wyatt continued. “Once you get to watch your boyfriend slip away, you’ll be right behind him.”

At his final words, Emma felt Chris stiffen below him, like he wanted to get up and do something damaging to Wyatt. So, since Chris couldn’t do it, Emma did it for him. Feeling that unmistakable tingle as her powers grew, Emma focused her glare on Wyatt, watching as the energy shot from within her, knocking Wyatt flying back into the wall.

She really had hoped it would cause him even a small amount of pain, but it didn’t seem to have any kind of effect. Wyatt simply stood, brushing himself off and laughing loudly. Her anger growing, Emma gently moved Chris’ head from her lap, standing, her glare never leaving Wyatt.

“My, we seem to have found an inner power, little girl,” Wyatt smirked at her.

“That’s not all I can do,” Emma replied.

Her focus never wavering, Emma pulled out the same trick se had used on Shaun, picturing her power turning into an invisible hand in her mind, using it to squeeze Wyatt’s heart. She let her lips twist up into a satisfied smirk as this time she clearly got to Wyatt, his hand gripping his chest as he cried in pain.

“You are strong, girly,” Wyatt gritted out. The next thing Emma knew, her focus was completely gone as the invisible hand squeezing was no longer her own, but wrapped around her throat as Wyatt used his own magic on her. “But I’m stronger.”

Emma scrambled uselessly at her throat, feeling her feet leave the floor as Wyatt stood strong. She couldn’t pull a single breath from her lungs, felt the burning as they fought to keep her alive, her vision beginning to blur.

“Wyatt….” Emma heard Chris’ struggling voice from behind her. “Let her go… please….”

“Well… since you asked so nicely….”

Emma suddenly collapsed to the cave floor, gasping for air as she finally could, taking deep lungfulls through her aching throat. But still, through her obvious distress and pain, Emma kept up her strong exterior, glaring up at Wyatt as he moved to stand over her.

“I guess I shouldn’t have dismissed him when he told me how you’d grown,” Wyatt said.

“Who?” Emma pushed out through her raw throat, struggling to her feet, not liking having Wyatt tower over her so much.

“His little birdy of course,” another voice echoed in the room as another figured emerged from the shadows. This time, she was a little more shocked to see the newcomer.

“Shaun,” she uttered breathlessly. “How… how did….”

“How ever did I meet Wyatt here?” Shaun finished for her with that annoying self-satisfied smirk of his. “A sheer stroke of brilliant luck on my part I do believe.”

“I met your boyfriend here when he was coming out of the Halliwell manor, awfully pissed at you and Chris, deary,” Wyatt continued. “And what a perfect daytime spy he was for me. And boy, hasn’t he told me a lot.” Wyatt grinned at Emma, sweeping past her towards Chris. Emma tried to follow him, but Shaun was stood beside her, latching onto her arm to pull her back.

“Tut, tut, tut, little Chrissy,” Wyatt said, kneeling beside his brother. “I never figured you, the good brother, would ever try to steal another man’s girl. The pain you must have put that poor sod through….”

As if to emphasise this, Wyatt pushed against the arrow in Chris’ stomach, making him cry out sharply in pain. Emma struggled harder against Shaun’s hold, but he wasn’t letting go. Her eyes full of so much anger, she turned them now on Shaun, pushing him away from her with the flat of her hand, her power giving the push extra force as he flew full length across the cave, knocking heavily into the wall, so heavy that small chunks of debris dropped around him.

“Now just what did that little outburst accomplish for you,” Wyatt said, standing and turning to her like he was scolding a small child.

“No idea, but it sure was satisfying,” Emma said, smirking at Wyatt. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that the force of the hit had knocked Shaun unconscious. “Maybe next time you’ll find yourself a partner who’s not so… fragile.”

“Oh, she is a feisty one, isn’t she Chris,” Wyatt said, speaking to his brother but keeping his eyes on Emma. “I think a like her a lot better than your last girlfriend.” Emma couldn’t help it, she felt her shoulders and eyes drop at the mention of Bianca. And of course, Wyatt noticed it.

“Well, I see you remember good ol’ Bianca too, don’t you?” Wyatt said, walking over to Emma. “Chris’ fiancé, the one he loved so much and was so worried about leaving behind.”

“Yes, the same one you killed, if I’m not mistaken,” Emma said, trying to get her strength back.

“You’re right, I did do that… in this timeline,” Wyatt said, stopping directly in front of Emma. “But my dear brother is doing his hardest to change that timeline now, isn’t he? While I happen to think all of this is just poor little Chrissy’s wishful thinking, he really believe he’ll change it all. And so do you.” Wyatt moved now, standing beside Emma, his arm round her shoulder. Emma stiffened under his hold, but that didn’t bother Wyatt. He held her strong, keeping her turned forward, her gaze on Chris.

“You think he might fix all this, fix me… and fix Bianca,” Wyatt said, and Emma hated his words. It was like he was reading her thoughts, her deepest fears, one of the big reasons why she had never said those three words to Chris. “But poor little Emma, that doesn’t stop you, does it. That hasn’t stopped you from turning your back on your faithful fiancé and falling in love with my little brother. Even though he will never love you back, not the way he loved Bianca. She was everything to him, and you have to know you’re nothing but the rebound girl.”

Emma snapped at this point, shoving angrily away from Wyatt, her elbow connecting hard with his side as she twisted herself to glare at him. She felt the energy burst that usually came with her powers only this time, Wyatt barely stumbled back, the normal high energy not there.

“Hit a nerve did I, sweetheart,” Wyatt said, a laugh in his voice. “Those handy little powers of yours don’t work so well when you can’t control your emotions. Did my aunts not get round to teaching you that lesson.”

At the mention of the sisters, Emma’s mind suddenly snapped back on track. She had been in this cave for a while now, and the plan had been for the sisters and Leo to follow straight after her, that was what the spell was supposed to do. So why weren’t they here?

“Of course, my family,” Wyatt said, once again stepping closer to Emma. “I bet around now, you’re wondering just where they are. Knowing those annoyingly good witches like I do, I can bet the plan was for them to follow right after you once you found my location… only they aren’t here. That, darling, might have something to do with all this being a trap… set up only for you. You see, the minute that little spell dropped you into my lair, I brought up a spell of my own. No one is going to find the two of you… at least not until I’m ready.” Now stood directly in front of her, Wyatt gripped Emma’s chin, forces her eyes to hold his.

“I’m afraid to say you’re stuck with my, princess.”

@~~>~~~

“Well?” Piper gritted out at Leo. A deep breath rolled past his lips slowly as he opened his eyes, locking them on his wife’s worried ones.

“Nothing,” he told her cautiously.

“What do you mean nothing?” Piper practically screamed. “The spell worked, Emma’s no longer here, we can see that. So why the hell can’t we follow her like we were supposed to?”

“Something… something’s blocking me,” Leo said, her voice still cautious.

“Blocking you? How?” Piper again screamed out.

“Piper, please, I think you need to calm down,” Phoebe tried to placate her. “This is not Leo’s fault.”

“No I will not calm down!” Piper screamed, now turning to her sisters. “Now not only have we lost my son, but we’ve lost Emma as well. Both of them are God know where, with God knows who, who’s probably doing God knows what to them. And apparently, we can’t do anything! You’re telling me that I’ve just got to sit here and wait while we lose them. And I can’t! This is my son and Emma, a woman who might as well be a daughter to me. And if anything happens to them….”

Panic suddenly overtook the anger Piper felt, stealing the steam from her voice as she collapsed to the couch behind her, dropping her head in her hands as tears stuttered out. And she didn’t push Leo away as he rushed to sit beside her. Instead she turned into his open arms, crying into her husband’s chest. Phoebe and Paige moves to her as well, Paige sitting on the other side of her, arm round her back, while Phoebe sat on the table in front of her, hands gently placed on her sister’s knees.

“We don’t expect you to sit and wait, because we don’t plan on doing that either,” Paige said. “It just looks like we have to keep ourselves calm and figure out another way to find both of them.”

“I’m sorry, I do know that,” Piper said, lifting her head from Leo’s chest. “I just… I don’t… I can’t think about….”

“Then don’t,” Phoebe interrupted her. “None of us in this room want to see anything to happen to them, to our family. So we won’t let it. We’ll do what we always do, which is anything and everything to keep them safe. OK?”

“You’re right, I know,” Piper said, sitting straight and wiping tear tracks from her cheeks.

“Alright, now we just need to find another way to save Chris and Emma,” Leo said, his arm still round his wife.

“Honestly, I think you’ll need to come up with it,” Piper said. “Because right now, I’m two steps away from taking Emma’s first idea and just having one of you randomly orb me round the Underworld until I find them.”

“Part of me is with you on that,” Paige admitted. “We just need to find a way that won’t take so long. Like you Piper, I want to find them now.”

“What about the spell?” Piper asked.

“That was a love link, a one of thing while Emma was here,” Phoebe answered. “We’ll not be able to use it without her.”

“I know that, but can’t you change it?” Piper encouraged her sister. “Use family love instead, that way we’ll all be linked in the spell and be able to find him.”

“I guess I could try,” Phoebe said, reaching for the spell paper. “Only, there was a reason I didn’t use family love in the first place.”

“Why, won’t it work?” Piper said, the panic at her only idea being put down beginning to sneak back in.

“Not as well as I would like,” Phoebe said, eyes down on the page and trying to re-write the spell. “Family love… it’s a vast thing. Loving someone, truly loving them, is a singular thing. You just love them. But you have more than one family member you love, and it is harder for a spell to take hold of that one strain of family love and follow it. If I change this spell, it might not get us as close as it did Emma, but it will get us in the vicinity.”

“That’s still better than us wandering around the Underworld,” Paige said.

“Erm… we might not need that spell,” Leo said, his head tilted to one side, his focus on a spot off in the distance. “Whatever was blocking me, it’s gone. I know where they are.”

“But… that’s a good thing, right,” Piper exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

“Not exactly,” Leo corrected. “The block… it just went away. We didn’t do anything, it didn’t gradually fade. It was just there one minute, gone the next, like someone had taken it down. Which has to mean….”

“This is a trap,” Paige finished for him, getting a nod of agreement from Leo.

“I don’t care,” Piper said.

“But….” Paige began.

“No,” Piper interrupted her. “We know where they are, so we go find them. We know that it’s a trap, so we just make sure we’re a little more cautious going into this.”

Phoebe, Paige and Leo all exchanged worried glances. None of them were 100% sure about this plan, this isn’t what they usually did. If they thought something was a trap, they came up with a definite plan before jumping into it headfirst. That, however, required logical thinking, and Piper just wasn’t thinking that way right now. It was all emotional for her, which meant, with Piper, there was no way any of them were going to change her mind now.

Which left the three of them with no other option but to all hold hands, following the link in Leo’s head to take them to Chris and Emma.

@~~>~~~

The three sisters and Leo landed in the cave that earlier, Emma had landed in alone. And like with Emma, they found themselves in alone, not a sound and seemingly not a person lingering anywhere. So if this was a trap, where was everyone. And more importantly, where were Chris and Emma.

A soft groan echoed from behind them, and they all turned, on defence. Piper was the first to snap out, racing to the prone body lay hidden in the shadows. She skidded to her knees beside him, holding her adult son against her, close to death.

“Leo, hurry!!” Piper screamed.

Leo in the lead, the three raced after Piper, Leo dropping to the other side of Chris. Phoebe moved between them, quickly but carefully pulling the arrow from Chris body. He barely flinched, never groaned, and their worry levels skyrocketed. Leo didn’t need to be told again, holding his hands over his son’s open wound, glowing as they healed him.  
He was so close to death, it felt like forever Piper was holding her son tightly in her arms before she saw Leo’s magic begin to work, the wound closing, the blood disappearing. And the second he was healed, while Piper wanted to hug him and hold him even tighter, Chris shot up, straight out of her arms and straight to his feet, jumping forward, his eyes darting everywhere as he uttered just one word.

“Emma!”

“Chris, what happened in here?” Piper asked, standing and walking towards him. “Where is Emma?” This time, Chris uttered three words that worried them all.

“He took her.”


End file.
